Istari Oncology Names Garrett Nichols, MD, MS, as Chief Medical Officer

We are pleased to announce the successful recruitment of Garrett Nichols, MD, MS, as Chief Medical Officer for Istari Oncology, a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of glioblastoma and a wide variety of solid tumors. The Company’s lead clinical stage asset is lerapolturev which has been designated by FDA as an Orphan Drug and granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM), and an Orphan Drug in advanced melanoma (stage IIb-IV) with Fast Track status for patients with advanced melanoma who have disease progression after anti–PD-1/L1 therapy.

Dr. Nichols brings 20 years in the life sciences industry and vast experience managing the global development efforts of multiple cancer therapeutics stemming from his achievements at large, multinational pharmaceutical organizations. Prior to joining Istari Oncology, Dr. Nichols served as Chief Medical Officer for Chimerix, Inc., where he led the development efforts for dociparstat sodium, an investigational, intravenous treatment in development as a first-line therapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and brincidofovir, an oral antiviral approved for the treatment of smallpox. He also served as Head of Global Development  at ViiV Healthcare and Vice President of Clinical Development at GlaxoSmithKline. In addition, Dr. Nichols spent 4 years on the faculty of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, where he was the principal investigator on NIH-funded grants exploring the prevention and treatment of viral infections in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. Dr. Nichols earned an MD from Duke University and an MS in epidemiology from the University of Washington, where he also completed a fellowship in infectious diseases.