NextPoint Therapeutics Appoints Leena Gandhi, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NextPoint Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a new world of precision immuno-oncology, announced today the appointment of Leena Gandhi, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

As CMO, Dr. Gandhi will oversee the clinical development of NextPoint’s precision immuno-oncology programs that target the newly discovered HHLA2 pathway to activate anti-tumor immune responses. Dr. Gandhi brings to the NextPoint team nearly 20 years of experience in immuno-oncology and novel drug development from both the academic research setting and the pharmaceutical industry. She has led pivotal studies demonstrating the utility of PD-L1 as a biomarker for efficacy of anti-PD1 agents in lung cancer as well as studies demonstrating the value of combining immunotherapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

“Leena is a proven leader in immuno-oncology and a brilliant physician-scientist, and our team will benefit greatly from her academic and drug development expertise as NextPoint moves forward in its next stage of growth,” said Detlev Biniszkiewicz, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of NextPoint Therapeutics. “We thank Dr. Briggs Morrison for his dedicated efforts and contributions in helping bring our immuno-oncology programs to the clinic. Briggs Morrison, MD, will step down as Interim CMO, but will continue to advise the company on an ongoing basis.”

“I look forward to working with the NextPoint team to accelerate the development of programs targeting the HHLA2 pathway, a novel tumor-suppressive mechanism with the potential to impact many patients,” commented Dr. Gandhi. “NextPoint’s outstanding team of scientists who have characterized the HHLA2 pathway along with experienced drug developers in the management team makes for the ideal chemistry to usher these novel immuno-oncology programs into the clinic.”

Dr. Gandhi received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and her MD from New York University. She completed postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. As a faculty member at Dana-Farber, she held positions in both the Thoracic Oncology Program and Early Drug Development Center where she led the clinical trials efforts in thoracic oncology until 2016, when she became the Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology at New York University. In Dr. Gandhi’s next role as Vice President of Immuno-Oncology Development at Eli Lilly, she led the development of novel immuno-oncology agents across cancer types before returning to Dana-Farber in 2020, where she most recently served as the Director of the Center for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation, a cross-malignancy novel therapeutics hub.

About NextPoint Therapeutics

NextPoint is advancing the field of immuno-oncology through its leading scientific work on the novel HHLA2 pathway. Our innovative approach integrates foundational science with a defined clinical biomarker to deliver a new class of monotherapies for patients who will not benefit from PD-1/L1 inhibitors. Our team of proven drug developers is working closely with our renowned scientific founders to launch a new world of precision immuno-oncology. To learn more, visit nextpointtx.com.