On the cusp of the clinic, Mestag Therapeutics unveils new CSO
CEO Susan Hill explained: “Matt is an experienced and highly respected R & D leader in the immunology and cancer biology field with an outstanding track record in the advancement of multiple commercialised antibody therapies.
“He joins us at an exciting time, as our pipeline of agonist antibody programs is poised to enter the clinic, we build our future portfolio of fibroblast immunology programs and explore novel targets through our proprietary RAFT platform and in partnership with MSD.
“His extensive expertise in the development of antibody-based therapeutics, combined with a deep insight into inflammatory disease and cancer biology is ideally suited to our fibroblast immunology focus.”
Dr Sleeman has more than two decades of experience as an R & D leader and scientist in inflammatory disease and cancer. His career has encompassed the research and development of six FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies, in addition to over twenty monoclonal and bispecific antibodies that have entered clinical development.
He joins from Regeneron, where he served as Vice President of Research, Head of Therapeutic Focus Area Immunology & Inflammation, leading a team of over 100 scientists spearheading new research, as well as supporting the ongoing development and approvals of Dupixent®, Kevzara® and Libtayo®.
During his tenure at Regeneron, Dr Sleeman’s team delivered a new platform of costimulatory bispecific antibodies to enhance the activity of checkpoint inhibitors and CD3 bispecifics in cancer, and the combination strategy of the anti-allergy franchise.
Earlier in his career, as Cambridge site lead for the Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity Group at MedImmune, the department advanced six programs into the clinic, including mavrilimumab, Adbry® and Faserna®.
At Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), which was destined to be absorbed into the MeImmune business, Dr Sleeman led a team of biologists supporting the AstraZeneca alliance inflammation portfolio in rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and osteoarthritis, culminating in the acquisition of CAT by AstraZeneca in 2006 for $1.3 billion.
Dr Sleeman said: “Over the last two decades, I have dedicated my career to advancing impactful antibody therapeutics, led by new biological insights that deepen our understanding of disease pathogenesis.
“Mestag’s compelling discoveries in fibroblast immunology, together with a unique portfolio of antibodies, offer an exciting opportunity to bring important new therapeutics to patients. I am energised to join the team and contribute to the development of a new class of therapeutics in inflammatory disease and cancer.”
The Mestag pipeline includes the M300 program, a bispecific LTBR agonist antibody that leverages a new understanding of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) in solid tumours and their role in driving improved patient outcomes; the M402 program, an agonist antibody targeting a stromal inhibitory receptor to dampen down the activation of specific immune cell subsets in inflammatory disease; and earlier programs in discovery stage.
Separately, it is also identifying novel targets for future therapies through the application of its proprietary RAFT Platform. In 2024, it entered into a license and research collaboration with MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA) to identify novel targets for inflammatory diseases.
Also last year it licensed a novel target to Johnson & Johnson under a 2021 target discovery, option and license agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc.
Mestag was founded by Boston US and London UK-based SV Health Investors and is supported by leading life science investors Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Forbion, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Northpond Ventures.