Howard L. Kaufman, M.D., FACS, is a surgical oncologist and cancer immunotherapy pioneer who serves as President and CEO of Ankyra Therapeutics, a Boston clinical-stage biotech developing anchored immunotherapies. He led the pivotal Phase III trial of T-VEC, the first oncolytic virus ever approved by the FDA for cancer, and has published more than 500 scientific papers over a 20-plus year research career. He now leads Ankyra's work on anchored IL-12 therapy, tolododekin alfa (ANK-101), aiming to deliver powerful immune drugs directly into tumors without the toxicity of systemic dosing.
SURGE Therapeutics is a Cambridge, Massachusetts clinical-stage biotech building intraoperative immunotherapy: a biodegradable, injectable hydrogel (SURGERx) placed directly into the surgical wound at the moment a tumor is removed. The goal is to turn the body's post-surgical inflammation from immunosuppressive to immunostimulatory and stop residual cancer cells from seeding recurrence and metastasis. Founded on research from Harvard Medical School and led by founder-CEO Michael Goldberg, Ph.D., the company has raised about $58M and is advancing its lead candidate SRG-514 toward a registrational trial in triple-negative breast cancer.