Serge Messerlian is probably missing out on a big celebration back at the offices of his former employer, Johnson & Johnson, after the approval of multiple myeloma med Carvykti last week.
Instead, Messerlian has moved on to his next gig: CEO of oncology-focused biotech Teon Therapeutics.
The loss of his father a year ago to cancer realigned his priorities and placed renewed focus on optionality for cancer patients. The reflection on both his personal and his professional lives led him to take on the new role.
“Frankly, I wanted to come back to get closer to the science, to be able to invent new options for people and, in a way, invent hope,” he said in an interview with Fierce Biotech.
Messerlian served as president of the Janssen pharmaceutical unit’s U.S. oncology program prior to taking up the post at Teon in January. His appointment was announced Tuesday, days after CAR-T therapy Carvykti, the development of which he oversaw, received FDA approval for multiple myeloma.
Messerlian spent six years at J&J, first heading sales and marketing for the immunology division before leading Actelion after it was acquired for $30 billion in 2017. In 2020, he was elevated to lead Janssen’s U.S. oncology program, overseeing the Big Pharma’s portfolio of cancer treatments.
Teon is founded on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)—the largest family of cell surface molecules involved in signal transmission—which can be weaponized by cancer cells to evade the immune system. The lead asset, TT-702, targets the adenosine receptor A2B, a subclass of GPCRs that are overexpressed on cancer cells. The company has launched the drug—which is being co-developed by Cancer Research UK—into a phase 1/2 trial, where dosing just got underway.
Messerlian expects that trial to wrap up in a year.
The company is also developing an immune checkpoint inhibitor, TT-816, and plans to ask the FDA to greenlight human trials by the middle of 2022.
“The Teon team has very novel molecules, I would say, that impact and reverse the immune suppressive effect of tumors,” he said. “I just thought it was a new and interesting approach to targeting difficult-to-treat cancers.”
Messerlian will join an experienced leadership team including Lina Yao, M.D., Ph.D., who’s been both acting CEO and chief scientific officer prior to Messerlian’s appointment. Yao—who will maintain her CSO role—used to spearhead the biology program for CV Therapeutics before it was acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2007. CV distinguished itself by developing two different therapies targeting adenosine receptors: one to treat chronic angina and the other for use as a pharmacologic stress agent. Both received FDA approval.
Messerlian’s move takes him from a program that raked in nearly $6 billion in 2021 to a startup that completed a $30 million series A round a year ago and will need to raise more.
Right now, Teon is prioritizing its clinical targets, but Messerlian acknowledges the biotech will have to “balance the future out a little bit” by feeding early development molecules. He also said the technology behind Teon’s early developments could open doors for a number of future partnerships, hinting that the platform’s potential to reverse T-cell exhaustion could pair well with CAR-T therapies.
“There’s a lot of white space, I think, to be able to play out,” he said.