Akrevia Therapeutics adds to leadership team with new COO

Privately-held Akrevia Therapeutics today announced that Joseph Farmer has been appointed as chief operating officer of the biopharma company launched by Atlas Ventures and F-Prime last September.

In this newly-established role, Mr Farmer will lead Akrevia's business development, finance, administrative, and business operations functions. He will report to René Russo, Akrevia's chief executive, who was just appointed to this position last month.

"As we focus on the next phase of Akrevia's growth, I am thrilled to welcome Joe as our new chief operating officer," said Dr Russo, adding: "This is an exciting time for the company as we approach nomination of our first development candidates from our tumor-activated IL-2 and anti-CTLA4 programs, unlock the full potential of our Aklusion platform technology and work to deliver on our long-term strategy to build a leading immuno-oncology company. Joe's execution-focused leadership and deep expertise in financing companies, building successful business development partnerships, and establishing operational infrastructure at multiple early-stage, high-growth companies will be invaluable to Akrevia as we aim to become a leader in immuno-oncology therapeutics."