BRIEF—Kyverna lures Amgen exec to be its first CMO

US autoimmune drug developer Kyverna Therapeutics has appointed James Chung, as the company’s first chief medical officer.

Dr Chung brings extensive biopharmaceutical industry experience working across the entire drug development process focused on autoimmune diseases and has dedicated a significant part of his career working in translational medicine and early clinical development. By leading the company’s Clinical Development organization, he will contribute to Kyverna’s transition to a clinical-stage company.

Dr Chung joins Kyverna from US biotech giant Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), where he most recently was executive medical director, head of inflammation and neuroscience, Global Medical Organization, and global development leader for Enbrel (etanercept).

“James has introduced into the clinic and developed numerous novel treatments across a wide range of autoimmune diseases. This includes a therapeutic candidate for lupus nephritis, a disease with significant unmet medical need where our cell therapy approaches could be transformational. His experience as a physician-scientist and expert drug developer makes him the ideal person to implement Kyverna’s strategy. By combining advanced T cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies, our goal is to create a new class of T-cell therapies programmed to target and selectively modulate the underlying causes of autoimmunity,” said Dominic Borie, president and chief executive of Kyverna.

Prior to Amgen, Dr Chung began his industry career as an associate director in clinical sciences at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), where he served as the early clinical leader for several early development programs in inflammation. His work is extensively published.