Alloplex Biotherapeutics is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Robin Robinson to our scientific advisory board. 

Dr. Robin Robinson, a virologist by training, is an independent consultant on vaccines and biodefense matters. He returned to the biopharmaceutical business sector after retiring in 2016 from federal public service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he served from 2008 – 2016 as the first director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and as BARDA’s Influenza and Emerging Disease program director (2004 – 2008). Dr. Robinson brought BARDA into prominence as one of the top 10 fully integrated R&D organizations worldwide supporting advanced development and acquisition of drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and medical devices to address the deleterious outcomes of man-made biodefense threats, pandemic influenza (H1N1, H5N1) and emerging infectious diseases including Ebola and Zika viruses. 

Dr. Robinson was recognized as one of the top 50 most influential persons worldwide in vaccines by Vaccine Nation and in 2018 Dr. Robinson was recognized by Medicine Maker as one of the top 100 innovators in medicine.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Robinson to our scientific advisory board. His background and perspective will be invaluable to Alloplex as we develop our LYSAVAX vaccine platform and coordinate with several regulatory and government agencies.”, said Dr. Borriello, CEO of Alloplex.  

Dr. Robinson joins Dr. Martin A. “Mac” Cheever of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute, who is an expert in the development of cancer immunotherapies and cancer vaccines and directs the federally funded Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network.

Update July 2021: As media will be well aware — since this announcement – a number of Covid-19 vaccines have been developed, commercialised and deployed globally. As a result, Alloplex Biotherapeutics is no longer engaged in research associated with Covid-19 and Dr. Robin Robinson has now stepped away from his role on the Alloplex Scientific Advisory board. We appreciate and value Dr. Robinson’s able contribution to our organization.

About SUPLEXA cells

SUPLEXA cells are anti-tumor effector cells derived from the differential and activation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) through an ex vivostimulation protocol. The protocol involves coincubation of PBMC with a genetically engineered tumor cell line (ENLIST cells) to stably express a highly curated set of immunomodulators to activate complementary immune cell subsets. SUPLEXA cells are comprised of multiple cell types, with many known to possess anti-tumor activity such as natural killer (NK), TCR-gd positive T cells, cytotoxic CD8 positive T lymphocytes (CTL), as well as additional minor populations. Hence SUPLEXA therapy employs multiple mechanisms of action and represents an orthogonal approach to anti-tumor cytolysis. The broad anti-tumor cytolytic activity of SUPLEXA cells is specific, with no observable effects on normal naïve blood cells from either the same (autologous) or different individuals (allogeneic). 

About LYSAVAX Vaccine Platform

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the realization that ENLIST cells can also be used as the core of a vaccine platform, since the ENLIST cells act as a potent adjuvant.  Hence, The LYSAVAX-CoV-2 vaccine is comprised of ENLIST cells that provide adjuvant function, combined with another cell line engineered to express antigens specific to the target pathogen – in this case, 5 proteins encoded by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  This cellular vaccine is both simple to produce and can be lyophilized, thus removing the restrictive logistical costs of cold-chain requirements. If development proceeds according to plan. Animal data will be emerging over the next 2 months and a phase 1 vaccine trial could begin as early as 4Q2020.

About Alloplex Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Alloplex Biotherapeutics is a privately held Boston-based cellular therapeutics company founded in 2016 by its CEO Dr. Frank Borriello, MD, PhD. Dr. Borriello started his career as an academic immunologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Harvard) and transitioned to the pharmaceutical industry in 1999 where he held positions of increasing responsibility, primarily in the Search and Evaluation component of Business Development. He has held positions at Wyeth, BBBiotech, Millennium, Takeda, Shire and his last position, prior to founding Alloplex, was at Baxalta where he served as VP and Head of Search and Evaluation, before its acquisition by Shire in 2016.