“We are pleased to welcome Helen, an accomplished healthcare executive with extensive drug development and corporate strategy experience, to our board of directors,” said Mai-Britt Zocca, PhD, President and CEO of IO Biotech.
“I look forward to Helen’s contributions to the board as we work to potentially bring our lead cancer vaccine candidate, IO102-IO103, to market for patients with advanced melanoma as early as 2025.”
“I am inspired by IO Biotech’s unique approach that has the potential to transform the way many cancers are treated today,” said Dr Collins.
“The Phase I/II data of lO102-IO103 in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor to treat first-line advanced melanoma patients showed a remarkable overall response rate of 80% and the data generated from the company’s Phase II study in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and squamous cell cancer of the head and neck is promising."
"I look forward to working with the company as they complete their pivotal Phase III trial and work to fulfill their mission of changing the treatment paradigm for patients with cancer.”
Dr Collins joins the IO Biotech board of directors with more than 25 years of medical experience. She is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Enliven Therapeutics.
Prior to Enliven, she served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Five Prime Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the strategy and execution of the company’s clinical development plans until its acquisition by Amgen in April 2021.
Previously, Dr Collins held positions of increasing responsibility at Gilead Sciences, most recently as Program and Clinical Lead for Gilead’s GS-5829 (BET inhibitor) and GS-4059 (BTK inhibitor) programmes, and Amgen, most recently as Global Lead of Oncology Biosimilars.
Dr Collins currently serves on the board of directors for Kura Oncology. Prior to her career in the biopharma industry, Dr Collins practiced as a medical oncologist/hematologist for 12 years.
She earned her MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, completing her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and oncology fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, and her BA from Bryn Mawr College.
