Driven by a bold founding vision: Empowering patients from within, Abintus is pioneering potentially curative, off-the-shelf genetic medicines that engineer cells directly inside the patient’s body, also termed in vivo. These therapies are based on Abintus’ clinically proven Modular Delivery Platform (MDP). The company’s two initial, fit-for-purpose, In Vivo programs are:
1. Highly selective gene expression targeting cell type/state via synthetic biology (e.g., In Vivo CAR-NK/T/Treg, In Vivo TCR-T) with applications across multiple gene delivery systems (e.g., AAV, lenti, adeno, retro) and therapeutic areas including leukemia, solid tumors, autoimmune, infectious, and genetic disease.
2. Simultaneous engineering of a diverse repertoire of active innate and adaptive immune cells (e.g., In Vivo CAR-X) with applications in diseases such as lymphoma and solid tumors.
Abintus is leveraging over 20 years and $275 million of prior technology advancement for in vivo engineering including the treatment of over 350 patients through Phase 3 registration trials.
Abintus’ initial funding syndicate included Takeda Ventures and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Therapy Acceleration Program® (LLS TAP). Abintus Bio, Inc. (“Abintus”) is headquartered in San Diego.
Lior Nissim, PH.D.
Dr. Nissim joined Abintus in 2022 and serves as Head of Synthetic Biology. Dr. Nissim concurrently serves as an Assistant Professor and Head of Biomedical Synthetic Biology group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Nissim is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of synthetic biology and has developed several novel biological engineering platforms for biomedical applications, combining multidisciplinary training in biology, biophysics, and synthetic biology. As part of his Ph.D. work, Dr. Nissim pioneered the very first engineered gene circuit for precise targeting of cancer cells. In his postdoc training, his team developed advanced synthetic RNA-based gene circuits for cancer immunotherapy, a high-throughput screening approach for identifying Synthetic Promoters with Enhanced Cell-State Specificity (SPECS), an integrated RNA and CRISPR/Cas gene regulation toolkit, and Synthetic Circuit-Driven Expression of Heterologous Enzymes for Disease Detection. Currently, his group is focused on developing advanced technologies that enable cell-state specific gene expression. These technologies are enabling the advancement of next-generation cancer therapies, antiviral vaccines, and other biotechnology innovations. He completed his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he also received his Ph.D. in synthetic biology. Prior to that, he accomplished his M.Sc. at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he performed basic cancer research.
Traci M. Ostertag, M.S.
Traci M. Ostertag, M.S., serves as Vice President of Discovery Biology and Operations. Traci has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience across oncology, immunology, and metabolic disease indications with expertise in early-stage drug discovery through to clinical development, operations, and R&D strategy. Prior to Abintus, Traci was a key contributor to establishing Viscient Biosciences’ drug discovery programs and operations. At Ardea Biosciences, she was a discovery and development team member for Zurampic, which received FDA and EMA approval. Her industry experience has spanned multiple startups as well as pharma, including Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Takeda. Traci holds a M.S. in Molecular Virology from San Diego State University.
Cory Bentley, Ph.D., MBA
Cory Bentley is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as a consultant. Dr. Bentley has over 15 years of experience in translational science focused on oncology and immuno-oncology. Prior to founding Abintus, Dr. Bentley was Director of Translational Research at Tocagen where she helped pioneer in vivo reprogramming of immune cells. She also has extensive experience in antibody discovery and development from her roles as Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at RIFT Biotherapeutics, which focused on tumor microenvironment challenges, and Director of Discovery at Sevion Therapeutics. Dr. Bentley completed postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UC San Diego, an MBA from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, and a BA in Chemistry from Occidental College.
Derek Ostertag, Ph.D.
Dr. Ostertag is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Ostertag has more than 20 years of virology, immunology, and gene therapy experience with a proven track record of taking gene and cell therapy technologies from start-up through BLA applications. This includes the integration of multiple disciplines spanning molecular virology, immunotherapy, retroviral-based gene therapy, bioinformatics and clinical biomarker, mechanism of action and safety assay development. He has multiple issued gene therapy related patents and strong publication record with demonstrated success in preclinical and clinical research programs to support regulatory filings, biomarker discovery, manufacturing, and clinical trials. Derek obtained his doctorate in Molecular Biology from the UC San Diego and San Diego State University, and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, San Diego as an Arthritis Foundation Fellow.
John Snyder, CPA
John Snyder, CPA, serves as consulting Vice President, finance and accounting at Abintus. John has over 17 years of finance experience in the healthcare and technology sectors and has held various operating roles at firms including PvP Biologics (acquired by Takeda), Mavupharma (acquired by AbbVie), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck) and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pharmion). He graduated cum laude from the University of Arizona with a B.S. degree in finance and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of CPAs.
David D. Phinney, J.D.
David Phinney, J.D., serves as consulting General Counsel at Abintus. He is a partner at Adkins Black LLP, with a focus on life sciences, software, technology transactions and intellectual property law. Prior to joining Adkins Black, David was Associate General Counsel for Caradigm, a Microsoft-GE joint venture, and a senior associate in the technology transactions practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented clients in the negotiation and execution of numerous complex transactions related to the development and commercialization of intellectual property, primarily in the life sciences, software, and technology industries. He also served as vice president of legal affairs for Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company. Prior to joining Angiotech, David was an associate at Heller Ehrman and a patent agent at a boutique patent law firm in the Silicon Valley. David obtained his J.D. from Stanford Law School and B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from the University of Washington.
Carlos E. Ibañez, Ph.D.
Carlos E. Ibañez, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as our Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Ibañez brings 27+ years of operations experience specializing in the field of viral gene and cell therapies from company start-up and early development through Phase III PPQ validation for commercial manufacturing processes for companies such as Viagene Inc, Chiron Corporation, Oxford BioMedica and Tocagen Inc. Dr. Ibañez is a trusted leader who builds and leads teams that are committed to excellence and continuous learning. His deep understanding of viral vector biology is combined with extensive regulatory experience and an emphasis on designing scalable manufacturing processes that can meet the needs of clinical trials and global commercial supply. Dr. Ibañez is a pioneer in the development of stable viral vector production cell lines adapted to serum free suspension cultures; automated continuous perfusion fed single-use bioreactor systems; downstream chromatography purification of viral vectors; product formulation of viral based therapies for IV administration; and the development of effective lot release and stability testing strategies in concordance with extensive product characterization and comparability testing. Dr. Ibañez has led CMC interactions with FDA and EMA for a viral vector product that achieved Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) and PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) designation, respectively. Dr. Ibañez is an inventor on multiple issued patents related to cell lines and manufacturing. Dr. Ibañez holds a Ph.D. in molecular pathology from the University of California, San Diego and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Research Institute at Scripps Clinic.
Nicholas A. Boyle, Ph.D.
Dr. Boyle is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the company. He has over 15 years of operational experience building value at cell/gene therapy and oncology companies from start-up to commercial and has led or supported over $1 billion of transactions including licensing deals, private and public financings and M&A. Prior to founding Abintus, Dr. Boyle was Vice President, strategy and business development at Tocagen Inc. where he held broad responsibilities including strategy, commercial, medical affairs, contracts and business development. Before joining Tocagen he was Director, corporate development at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals where he closed a sequence of licensing transactions that catalyzed a 10-fold increase in market value. Previously, Dr. Boyle was team leader for antiviral and oncology drug discovery at Biota (now Vaxart) and a medicinal chemist at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). Dr. Boyle holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Sheffield University, completed his post-doctorate research at The Scripps Research Institute, was a visiting scholar at The University of North Texas and received a Monbusho (AIST) fellowship to conduct gene editing and synthetic biology research in Tsukuba, Japan.
Douglas J. Jolly, Ph.D.
Douglas Jolly, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as the Chief Advisor. Dr. Jolly is an internationally recognized expert in the field of gene therapy and its pharmaceutical application. Over the last 30 years he has been a senior biotechnology executive involved in translating gene-based products from research through clinical development at the following companies that he also co-founded: Viagene, Inc., Candel Therapeutics Inc. and Tocagen Inc. He also served in executive capacities at Chiron Corporation, Oxford BioMedica plc, where he ran the U.S. subsidiary, BioMedica Inc. Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. Jolly pursued his academic career in biophysics and molecular biology at the Weizmann Institute, Harvard Medical School, Scripps Clinic, the University of California, San Diego and The French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, (INSERM), in Paris, France. Dr. Jolly holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, is an inventor on 50 US patents and is an author of over 130 scientific publications. Dr. Jolly is a past board and committee member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and is currently an Associate Editor for Cancer Gene Therapy.