CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vor Biopharma, an oncology company pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for the treatment of cancer, today announced the appointment of Nathan Jorgensen, PhD, as Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Jorgensen has over a decade of diverse experience in the financial industry focused on healthcare and biopharma at the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Calamos Investments and Stifel Nicolaus, as well as scientific doctoral and post-doctoral training.
“Nathan is a rare combination of financial analyst and scientist and brings these valuable skills to Vor at an important time in our development as company,” said Robert Ang, MBBS, MBA, Vor’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “In this leadership role, he will work with us to execute on our financing strategy, allowing us to grow our team and advance our lead program VOR33 into the clinic, while deepening our scientific platform and pipeline.”
Dr. Jorgensen brings a comprehensive background of buy-side, sell-side, consulting, and scientific experience to his new role at Vor. At QIA, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, he spearheaded biotechnology and pharmaceutical investment efforts, which included opportunities in public, private, and specialty investments. Prior to joining QIA, he led investments in therapeutics at Calamos, a growth-focused public equity investment firm with $25 billion of assets under management. Before joining Calamos, Dr. Jorgensen covered mid- and large-cap biotech companies at the investment bank Stifel Nicolaus.
Prior to working on Wall Street, Dr. Jorgensen investigated the pathobiology of Parkinson’s disease at the Columbia University Medical Center as a post-doctoral scientist. He earned an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University and a PhD from the University of Minnesota.
“Vor’s approach to engineering hematopoietic stem cells to unlock the potential of targeted therapies is extremely compelling and I consider it amongst the most elegant therapeutic strategies in the field of oncology,” said Dr. Jorgensen. “I look forward to working with the team to explore potential financing opportunities to advance our science and bring our lead therapy closer to helping patients with blood cancers.”
About Vor Biopharma
Vor Biopharma aims to transform the lives of cancer patients by pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies. By removing biologically redundant proteins from eHSCs, these cells become inherently invulnerable to complementary targeted therapies while tumor cells are left susceptible, thereby unleashing the potential of targeted therapies to benefit cancer patients in need.
Vor’s platform could be used to potentially change the treatment paradigm of both hematopoietic stem cell transplants and targeted therapies, such as antibody drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell treatments. A proof-of-concept study for Vor’s lead program has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Vor is based in Cambridge, Mass. and has a broad intellectual property base, including in-licenses from Columbia University, where foundational work was conducted by inventor and Vor Scientific Board Chair Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil. Vor was founded by Dr. Mukherjee and PureTech Health and is supported by leading investors including 5AM Ventures and RA Capital Management, Johnson & Johnson Innovation — JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and Osage University Partners.
About VOR33
Vor’s lead product candidate, VOR33, consists of engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) that lack the protein CD33. Once these cells are transplanted into a cancer patient, CD33 becomes a far more cancer-specific target, potentially avoiding toxicity to the normal blood and bone marrow associated with CD33-targeted therapies. In so doing, Vor aims to improve the therapeutic window and effectiveness of CD33-targeted therapies, thereby potentially broadening the clinical benefit to patients suffering from AML.
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