Kling Bio Announces Appointment of Dr Stefano Gullà as Chief Scientific Officer

• Experienced, innovative biotech and pharma leader with demonstrated success in discovery and development of new therapeutic technologies

AMSTERDAM, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kling Bio ("Kling" or "the Company"), a biotech company developing antibody-based drugs against targets identified from its immortalized B-cell platform, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Stefano Gullà as Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr Gullà is a seasoned industry veteran with over 15 years of experience in biotherapeutics discovery and development. Prior to joining Kling, Dr Gullà held senior positions at Pfizer, Agenus, Flagship, and RVAC where he led the discovery and development of its first-in-class therapeutics with applications in immuno-oncology and autoimmunity.

Commenting on the appointment, Michael Koslowski, Chief Executive Officer of Kling Bio, said: "Kling will benefit immensely from Stefano's proven leadership skills and in-depth scientific knowledge. I am confident Stefano will help guide and execute our vision for Kling during this pivotal phase of Company growth, as we accelerate to become a world-leading drug discovery and development company."

Stefano Gullà, new Chief Scientific Officer of Kling Bio, commented: "Kling's technology is a powerful discovery engine that enables simultaneous and unbiased identification of new targets and therapeutic antibodies. I am excited about the potential to scale this clinically proven platform, focusing on cancer and emerging infectious diseases, and look forward to working with Kling's exceptionally talented leadership team to continue building value for patients by advancing life changing medicines into the clinic." 

In addition to his successful track record of biotherapeutics discovery and development, Stefano brings exceptional entrepreneurial experience to Kling. In 2016, Stefano founded Abcuro, a biotech company focused on developing novel therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases, where he held the positions of CEO and CSO. He led Abcuro from inception into the clinic and raised over $60 million in venture funding. Stefano is passionate about bringing innovative therapies to patients. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees from Northeastern University, before completing a postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

About Kling Bio

Kling Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage, privately held biotech company focused on discovery and development of antibody based therapeutics. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands with a fully owned IP portfolio that covers platform technologies Kling-Select and Kling-Evolve for the simultaneous discovery of novel targets and identification of fully human antibodies directly from patient-derived B cells.

Kling-Select relies on a fully-owned and clinically-validated B cell immortalization technology to identify novel therapeutic targets and antibody binders from patients with exceptional clinical responses. This technology has successfully identified novel neutralising antibodies for various infectious diseases such as RSV (nirsevimab/Beyfortus), Covid, and Influenza. More recently, Kling-Select has been applied to peripheral and tumor-infiltrating B cells derived from cancer patients and produced a portfolio of novel and selective target-antibody pairs. The unbiased nature of this discovery platform allows identification of novel targets and unique epitopes inaccessible to traditional target discovery approaches.

Kling-Evolve enables the ex vivo affinity maturation of B cell clones against targets of interest. This powerful technology can be used for the rapid evolution of neutralizing antibodies against emerging viral variants or for affinity and selectivity improvement of oncology assets.

Kling Biotherapeutics is progressing a unique pipeline of oncology programs with KBA1412, a first-in-class CD9 antibody, being tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial.