SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Shasqi, Inc. ("Shasqi") a biotech company whose mission is to make cancer drugs more effective with click chemistry, today announced the expansion of its board with the appointment of Pamela M. Klein, M.D., and Mark McCamish M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Klein is an Independent Director on several biotech boards, as well as a venture partner for Ysios Capital. She has previously held positions at Genentech, and the NCI as co-founder and Research Director of NCI-Navy Breast Center. Dr McCamish is the President and CEO of IconOVir Bio, an oncolytic virus-based biotech creating potent viruses that bind broadly to solid tumors and replicate selectively in tumor cells. He has held previous roles as the President and CEO of Forty-Seven and the Global Head of Development at Sandoz, preceded by several CMO roles at small biotech companies, as well as senior leadership positions at Amgen and Abbott.

Drs Klein and McCamish join existing board members Juan Jaen, PhD and José M. Mejía Oneto, M.D., Ph.D., Shasqi CEO and founder.

"I am delighted to welcome these esteemed executives to Shasqi's board" said Dr. Mejía Oneto. "Both Pam and Mark have made significant contributions to the field of oncology therapeutics, and we look forward to working with them as we advance Shasqi's antigen-targeted drug portfolio."

Shasqi has developed a novel approach to activating drugs at the tumor. First, an antigen targeting activator is infused, which binds to the tumor. Then, an inert version of a cancer therapeutic called a protodrug is infused. The protodrug finds the activator at the tumor and active drug is released via a click chemistry reaction. This has several advantages over antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

About Shasqi and CAPAC^®

Shasqi's unique CAPAC^® (Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer) platform uses 2022 Nobel Prize winning technology, click chemistry, to selectively activate high doses of cancer drugs directly at the site of the tumor, minimizing toxicity to healthy cells and potentially improving the therapeutic index by dramatically altering the exposure.

CAPAC builds on the advances achieved by antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), changing what's possible with antigen targeted drug activation. Shasqi has developed an expansive and diverse library of antigen targeting activators and cancer therapeutic protodrugs. These two components are decoupled from each other and united at the site of the tumor via a click chemistry reaction. We are the first company to use click chemistry in humans.

Shasqi is advancing the development of new tumor targeting activators and protodrugs on an ongoing basis and is in active collaboration with partners in the biopharmaceutical industry to expand the CAPAC library of antigen targeting activators and protodrugs.