Slingshot Therapeutics Limited (“Slingshot”), the Syncona Accelerator, built to identify, de-risk and advance therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers, today announces the appointment of John Isaac as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Bobby Soni as Chief Business Officer (CBO). These new hires significantly strengthen the Slingshot team, supporting acceleration of the company’s scientific progress and business development strategy. At the same time, Slingshot’s founding CSO Richard Wooster, who has played a pivotal role in creating the business, is transitioning to a non-executive role as Scientific Advisor and Board member.
As CSO, John Isaac will be responsible for the Company’s scientific strategy, progress across the pipeline, and delivery of valuable therapeutic assets. He will also lead the identification, technical assessment and selection of early-stage drug discovery programmes and assets to add to the Slingshot pipeline.
John brings more than 30 years of experience, as an academic and in drug discovery across a range of therapeutic indications and modalities. John is an internationally recognised neuroscientist, most recently serving as CSO of AviadoBio, a clinical stage biotech where he was responsible for the scientific strategy and pipeline, and led the research and discovery organisation. Prior to that he was Head of Neuroscience, External Innovation, EMEA at Johnson & Johnson Innovation. In this role he led search and evaluation of neuroscience assets across EMEA from Discovery through to Phase II development, as well as related business development activities. John’s previously roles include Head of Neuroscience at Wellcome and Head of Neurophysiology at Eli Lilly & Co.
As CBO, Bobby Soni will oversee all business development activities comprising the Company’s outreach, engagement and partnership strategy. This includes the acquisition and in-licensing of drug discovery programmes. Upon identification of a drug candidate, Bobby will drive partnering or company formation efforts around assets to progress them into clinical development. In this role, Bobby will work alongside Slingshot’s scientific leaders and the Syncona team.
Bobby is highly experienced in the life sciences sector with over 25 years of experience in roles spanning science, project leadership, venture capital investing, non-executive directorships and start-up acceleration. He has held scientific and investment positions at Maxygen, LEO Pharma, Novo Holdings and Imperial Innovations. Most recently Bobby was CBO at BioInnovation Institute, Europe’s largest bioscience accelerator, where he was responsible for their acceleration programme and supported over 100 companies, which have raised more than €1bn in capital.
Edward Hodgkin, Executive Chair of Slingshot, said: “We see a valuable opportunity to translate academic innovation into drug candidates that are ready for clinical development. The combination of Slingshot’s industry-experienced drug development team with Syncona’s investment expertise is creating a powerful platform for the acceleration of academic research. John and Bobby will play an invaluable role in this, and we are delighted to welcome them to the team.”
John Isaac, Chief Scientific Officer, Slingshot, commented: “I’m excited to join the Slingshot team as we look to unearth and unlock the potential of promising early-stage drug discovery. I look forward to shaping and delivering Slingshot’s scientific strategy, adding exciting new assets to the pipeline and accelerating innovative therapies towards the clinic.”
Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer, Slingshot, commented: “I look forward to working alongside an excellent team to expand Slingshot’s network and pipeline. I will be focused on in-licensing world-class therapeutic programmes and advancing the company’s partnering programme, leveraging the strength of Syncona’s network as a key differentiator.”
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Slingshot Therapeutics
info@slingshot-accelerator.co.uk
FTI Consulting
Tim Stamper / Lucy Molloy
About Slingshot
Slingshot Therapeutics Limited, the Syncona Accelerator, was built to identify, de-risk and advance therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers.
Slingshot provides an innovative platform with access to centralised expertise, resource, funding and operational support to accelerate exceptional academic science into attractive biotech assets ready for clinical development. Slingshot aims to accumulate a pipeline of small molecule programmes across a range of therapeutics areas where there is significant unmet medical need, identified from world-leading academic institutions in the UK, US and Europe. For more information please visit: slingshot-accelerator.co.uk