EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cumulus Oncology, Europe’s first oncology-focused biotech company creation factory, announces the appointment of Catherine Lewis La Torre to its Board of Directors.
Catherine brings over thirty years of investment expertise, specialising in private equity, private debt, growth equity and venture capital. As former Chief Executive of British Business Investments, British Patient Capital, and the British Business Bank, Catherine played a pivotal role in the evolution of these organisations to support innovative companies in the UK, including in the life sciences sector.
Over the course of her career, Catherine has designed and implemented ambitious private capital investment strategies, operated at partner level within various European private equity firms, collaborated with the most senior representative of the UK Government to roll out large scale loan guarantee and equity investment programs, and provided advice to global institutional investors on their private capital strategies.
Clare Wareing, CEO of Cumulus Oncology said, “We’re delighted to welcome Catherine to our Board. Her extensive experience in private equity and venture capital will be invaluable as we continue to scale our company and embark on our Series A financing to support our mission to create innovative oncology-focused companies.”
Catherine’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for Cumulus following the close of their £9m raise earlier this year. The company continues to scale its operations with the appointment of new team members and the initiation of additional collaborations around targets and assets. The incorporation of a high integrity data sciences strategy to drive novel target identification and build key patient sub-group intel further enhances the Cumulus business model. The allocation of early-stage capital and expertise applied to asset curation and de-risking are key differentiators for the company.
Catherine Lewis La Torre, newly appointed Board Director at Cumulus Oncology said, “I am honoured to join the Board of Directors at Cumulus. Its resource efficient approach to creating companies is timely as investors seek more capital efficient ways to grow innovative companies and deliver milestones. I look forward to working with the Board and the executive team to further the company’s mission of bringing novel oncology therapeutics to market with the overarching goal of improving patient outcomes.”
About Cumulus Oncology
Cumulus Oncology is Europe’s first biotech company creation factory dedicated to the oncology therapeutic area. It sources novel oncology assets from academic institutes, commercial drug discovery groups, and biopharmaceutical companies. An early focus on molecularly selected patient sub-groups is a key aspect of the business model. The company incorporates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platforms into its decision-making process to prioritize targets and assets and build patient sub-group hypotheses.
Cumulus currently has 2 spinout companies under management; Nodus Oncology a DDR portfolio company where the lead asset is a PARG inhibitor program with a positive data package, and GIO Therapeutics AG which was launched earlier this year, with a focus on developing therapeutics targeting GPCRs for oncology and inflammation.
Cumulus contributes both early-stage capital and oncology drug development expertise and manages each spinout company to achieve key development milestones and value inflection points. The founding team at Cumulus consists of successful life science entrepreneurs, scientists, and a range of oncology drug development and pharma sector business professionals who have collectively taken 18 oncology assets to successful drug approval.
Follow the company on LinkedIn and see the website for more information.
Media Inquiries
Cumulus Oncology
Clare Wareing, Cumulus CEO
Scius Communications
Katja Stout
Tel: +44 7789 435 990
Daniel Gooch
Tel: +44 7747 875 479
daniel@sciuscommunications.com
