OncoQuest Inc, a privately held cancer immunotherapy company based in Edmonton, Canada, has appointed Dr Eliel Bayever as chief medical officer.

In addition, Dr Bayever has spent the past two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry, developing both biologics and small molecule oncology drugs globally.

OncoQuest’s CEO, Dr Madi R. Madiyalakan, expressed “delight” at the addition of Dr. Bayever to his team.

Lauding praise on his new colleague’s work history, Dr. Madi commented: “The experience Eliel brings in leading early and late stage global clinical development and regulatory teams in oncology, including immunotherapy, will be very valuable as we move both our ovarian and pancreatic cancer therapeutics programs further in their clinical progress.”

Prior to joining OncoQuest, Dr. Bayever operated as vice president and head of oncology at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

‘Excited’ to be joining OncoQuest

Speaking about his new role, Dr Bayever is “very excited” to be joining the OncoQuest leadership team.

“This is a pivotal time for OncoQuest’s oregovomab, a novel immunotherapy, the Company’s lead compound,” he added. “In Phase 2, oregovomab showed great promise as a frontline therapy for ovarian cancer where the standard of care has not changed for decades, and I look forward to leading it to potential registration.”

“The opportunity to help grow a company that has the possibility of altering the way in which cancer is treated is, as always, very compelling to an oncologist,” commented Dr. Bayever.

Quick overview of Dr. Eliel Bayever’s accolades

  • Received his medical degree from the Medical School of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
  • Member of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom after time spent at King’s College Hospital in London and completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at UCLA.
  • Published over 30 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributed 15 editorials, reviews and chapters.
  • Former vice president and head of oncology at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
  • Former vice president, medical, at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, where he led the registration study, regulatory submission and global approval of ONIVYDE as a post-gemcitabine treatment of pancreatic cancer.
  • Held senior medical positions at Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth (now Pfizer), and Human Genome Sciences (now Glaxosmithkline),

More about OncoQuest

OncoQuest Inc. is an innovative immuno-oncology company developing synergistic combinations which incorporate our novel, proprietary portfolio of antibodies. These have been engineered to stimulate the proliferation of antigen-specific T-cells with chemotherapeutics and other immunomodulatory agents to improve clinical outcomes in a broad range of cancers.