Pioneering a new class of therapeutically targetable common antigens
ABOUT US
A novel approach to targeting a range of cancers
Spun out of the University of Oxford, Yellowstone is built around the pioneering research of Professor Paresh Vyas, a world-renowned scientific academic, key opinion leader and practising clinician with a specialist focus on acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
The Company is headquartered in Oxford, UK, with backing from a leading FTSE 250 healthcare company, Syncona.
Yellowstone team
Executive Leadership Team
Neil Johnston
Executive Chair
Neil is an experienced leader in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries. He spent 16 years as Novartis AG where he was a member of the Pharma Executive Committee and held a number of senior leadership positions at Novartis Pharma including Head of M&A and Head of Global Development Finance/Portfolio Management before becoming Global Head of Business Development & Licensing for both Novartis Pharma and Novartis AG.
Professor Paresh Vyas
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Paresh Vyas is Professor of Haematology at the University of Oxford. He is a research-active Consultant Haematologist at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust with a clinical practice in myeloid disorders which include AML and, myelodysplastic syndrome.
He is leading key opinion leader in AML. He is on the UK AML clinical trial group and co-founder of the international EVOLVE consortium that delivers novel trials in AML and high risk MDS. He founded and directs the Therapy Acceleration Laboratory at the University of Oxford that provides central laboratory analyses for Phase I-III trials. He also runs a basic and translational laboratory in the Weatherall Institute where he focuses on molecular and cellular biology of AML and MDS with specific interest in purification and therapeutic targeting of myeloid stem cells. He is Deputy Director at the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. He has been a co-author of several important scientific publications covering AML.
Paresh studied medicine at the University of Cambridge and then the University of Oxford. He did his medical and haematology training at hospitals in London. He obtained his Ph.D. with Professor Doug Higgs at the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Oxford and then conducted a three-year post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Stuart Orkin at Harvard University.
Julian Hirst
Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer
Julian is an experienced finance executive and has spent over 20 years in the investment banking and biotechnology industries. He started his career at Lehman Brothers where he spent a decade, based primarily in New York. Julian then returned to the UK to take up the position as European Head of Media at Morgan Stanley, followed by European Head of Technology at UBS.
He ended his investment banking career as Head of Corporate Finance and Vice Chairman of Panmure Gordon.
Julian’s career in biotechnology began at Immunocore where he was Corporate Finance Director and played a key role in raising close to $1 billion in three private rounds, a venture loan and a successful IPO on NASDAQ. He went on to join MiroBio (acquired by Gilead) as its CFO before co-founding Yellowstone.
Julian holds a BA in Geography from the University of Oxford and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where he was a Thouron Scholar.
Gonzalo Garcia
Interim Chief Business Officer
Gonzalo is a Director on the Board of Yellowstone Biosciences and an Observer on the Board of Resolution Therapeutics. He was closely involved in the foundation of both companies, including their strategic and operational set-up, through hands-on membership of their founding leadership teams.
Ben Woolven
Launch Lead
Ben is a Partner at Syncona Investment Management Ltd where he oversees the Syncona ‘Launch’ capability; coordinating the operational build of new portfolio companies. Prior to the creation of Yellowstone Biosciences, Ben was a member of the Resolution Therapeutics Executive Team developing project management and execution capability for this macrophage cell therapy company.
Ben joined Syncona from GlaxoSmithKline where he has over fifteen years of strategy development, business transformation and project leadership experience. Latterly Ben worked with GlaxoSmithKline’s Chief Medical Officer, where he led reconfiguration of global and regional medical functions in anticipation of their evolving pharma portfolio. Prior to this, Ben held various strategy and operations roles building scientific teams, developing justifications for new scientific investments, leading project management offices and providing R&D consultancy support. Ben holds a PhD in Immunology.
The Board
Neil Johnston
Executive Chair
Neil is an experienced leader in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries. He spent 16 years as Novartis AG where he was a member of the Pharma Executive Committee and held a number of senior leadership positions at Novartis Pharma including Head of M&A and Head of Global Development Finance/Portfolio Management before becoming Global Head of Business Development & Licensing for both Novartis Pharma and Novartis AG.
Prior to his time at Novartis, Neil was CFO of Pharmagene plc and CEO of Medical Solutions plc. Neil qualified as a chartered accountant at PwC and holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Liverpool.
Gonzalo Garcia
Non-Executive Director
Chris Hollowood
Non-Executive Director
Chris is the Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He is Chairman of Beacon, Spur and Purespring and is on the Board of Yellowstone Biosciences. Previously, Chris was a partner of Apposite Capital LLP, a venture and growth capital healthcare investment company.
Before Apposite, Chris had roles with Bioscience Managers Ltd, Neptune Investment Management Ltd and in the pharmaceutical industry. Chris holds a degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Organic Chemistry, both from the University of Cambridge.
Professor Paresh Vyas
CSO and Co-Founder
Paresh Vyas is Professor of Haematology at the University of Oxford. He is a research-active Consultant Haematologist at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust with a clinical practice in myeloid disorders which include AML and, myelodysplastic syndrome.
He is leading key opinion leader in AML. He is on the UK AML clinical trial group and co-founder of the international EVOLVE consortium that delivers novel trials in AML and high risk MDS. He founded and directs the Therapy Acceleration Laboratory at the University of Oxford that provides central laboratory analyses for Phase I-III trials. He also runs a basic and translational laboratory in the Weatherall Institute where he focuses on molecular and cellular biology of AML and MDS with specific interest in purification and therapeutic targeting of myeloid stem cells. He is Deputy Director at the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. He has been a co-author of several important scientific publications covering AML.
Paresh studied medicine at the University of Cambridge and then the University of Oxford. He did his medical and haematology training at hospitals in London. He obtained his Ph.D. with Professor Doug Higgs at the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Oxford and then conducted a three-year post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Stuart Orkin at Harvard University.
Dr. Benedicte Menn
Board Observer
Benedicte is Senior Investment Manager at Oxford University Innovation (OUI), the technology transfer office of the University of Oxford. Since 2017, she has supported the formation of several Oxford spinouts, including MiroBio subsequently acquired by Gilead Sciences.
Benedicte currently manages a portfolio of 40+ University spinouts and sits on the board of 15 of them.
Before joining OUI, Benedicte co-founded a biotech spinout focused on therapeutics for neurological diseases. Benedicte holds a DPhil in life sciences from Paris University and a PMP® certification.
Raghd Rostom
Board Observer
Raghd is an Associate Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd, and currently Head of Strategy and Operations at Kesmalea Therapeutics.
Previously, Raghd was a core member of the healthcare practice at the Boston Consulting Group, with a particular focus on strategy and digital areas across Pharma, Biotech and Global Health sectors. Prior to BCG, Raghd completed a multidisciplinary PhD at the Wellcome Sanger Institute & University of Cambridge, bridging the fields of computational genomics, cancer and infectious disease.
THE SCIENCE
Yellowstone’s technology has the potential to unlock highly selective targeted therapies
Over 20 years, Prof. Vyas’ laboratory has collected a proprietary biobank of over 10,000 samples from over 3,000 AML patients, including a rare cohort of high-risk AML patients cured by allogeneic stem cell transplantation without significant alloimmune toxicity. By studying this cohort, we have proprietary access to a novel set of frequently expressed peptide antigens presented by HLA Class II, which could unlock a new class of highly selective cancer therapeutics. Yellowstone will develop therapeutic T-cell bispecific molecules to target peptides presented by HLA-II that have the potential to selectively kill target tumour cells, whilst sparing healthy cells.
The Company will initially develop a lead programme in AML (accounts for 62% of all leukaemia deaths and most patients still die of their disease). Yellowstone will also actively test the potential targeting these peptide-Class II antigens in other common solid organ cancers exhibiting HLA-II expression, including ovarian cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, renal cancer and melanoma.
Cancer
• The cause of almost 10 million deaths a year
Acute myeloid leukaemia
• >44,000 new cases a year across the US and Europe
• Overall median survival of 8.5 months
Other solid tumours exhibiting HLA Class II expression
• Ovarian cancer, prostrate cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, renal cancer melanoma and non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
WHATS GOING ON
Latest news
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Altrincham, Cheshire,
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