Bringing Targeted Alpha
Therapies to Patients
About AdvanCell
AdvanCell is a radiopharmaceutical company that works with technology to develop a revolutionary cancer treatment called Targeted Alpha Therapy, providing new hope for patients with untreatable cancers.
The major limitation to its widespread adoption is the scalable supply of the isotopes required to make these therapies.
AdvanCell’s targeted alpha therapies are powered by a platform technology – a world-first alpha isotope generator which addresses the greatest unmet need in targeted alpha therapy – the reliable and scalable supply of isotope.
Management Team
Andrew Adamovich
Andrew is a founder and CEO of AdvanCell. Prior to AdvanCell, Andrew led investment activities for Riverland Capital, a private investment firm, where as a founder and director he focused on investing in China.
Andrew is a director of G2 Therapies, a spinout from the Garvan Institute, and is a director of CGI Glass Lewis, the Australian affiliate of Glass Lewis, a corporate governance advisory firm. Andrew was a director and shareholder of Yuan Chuan Radio (sold to Shanghai-listed Orient Securities), ASX-listed Hostworks Group (sold to Broadcast Australia), amongst other listed and private companies.
Andrew began his career at Peregrine Investments in Hong Kong in 1997 and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Berkeley.
Andrew is an experienced investor in healthcare and is responsible for business development for AdvanCell and corporate activities for the Company.
Simon Puttick
Simon completed a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham in 2012 where his study was focused on the use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to understand the spatial organisation of ionic liquids. Following his PhD, Simon moved to the University of Cambridge as a Research Fellow focused on the discovery of magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers of neurodegeneration in Huntington's Disease.
Simon moved to Australia in 2013 to take up a position as a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland focused on the development of targeted radionuclide therapies for primary brain cancers. In this position Simon developed a keen interest in the field of nuclear medicine and has developed a portfolio of active research in this field.
Simon moved to CSIRO in 2018 to lead a program of research in targeted alpha therapy development and remains a visiting scientist.
Simon joined AdvanCell in 2021 to realise the potential of the AdvanCell's targeted alpha therapy portfolio.
Anna Karmann
Anna has over 20 years‘ experience in biopharma industry, drug development, and clinical practice. As a board certified Radiologist, she has deep expertise in medical imaging, radiobiology, and radiopharmaceutical therapies.
Most recently, Anna was an executive at RayzeBio where she led the development of early-stage assets and provided strategic and clinical leadership for the GPC3 and CA9 programs to IND. Anna led and executed global compassionate use trials, which significantly contributed to the successful IPO and subsequent acquisition of the firm.
Prior to RayzeBio, Anna was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company where she successfully led projects for pharmaceutical, biotech, and investor clients with a focus on clinical development, targeted oncology, portfolio and commercial strategy, and operational performance.
Anna holds an MD from RWTH Aachen University, a PhD from Maastricht University, and an MBA from RWTH Aachen University and Tsinghua University Beijing. She gained significant clinical practice and clinical research experience at the University Medical Center Maastricht, Netherlands and Stanford University Hospital, CA, USA.
Matthew Vincent
Matthew joined from POINT Biopharma, where he was a Senior Vice President of Business Development. Matt is based in Boston and has over 30 years of experience in company business development and as a law firm partner. He has a wide range of experience relevant to business development and M&A strategy. Matt has also contributed to therapeutic discovery - including as an inventor on a number of pipeline programs in different companies. His deal sheet includes strategic partnerships and acquisitions involving Eli Lilly, Pfizer, GSK, BMS, Merck, Genentech/Roche, Moderna and Astellas amongst others.
Gary Li
Gary has over 20 years of multi-modality drug discovery, translational, and early development experience at both strategic and operational levels. Most recently, as RayzeBio’s 3rd employee and SVP, he led Discovery Biology, Translational Medicine, and Portfolio Strategy from its inception. Particularly, he spearheaded the effort in establishing a rich portfolio spanning from novel targets to Phase III assets. In addition, he played a key role in company building, fund raising, licensing, and scientific communication.
Before joining RayzeBio, Gary was SVP, Translational Medicine at BridgeBio and its affiliate, QED Therapeutics, leading all aspects of Translational Research and Companion Diagnostics, which led to multiple global drug approvals. Prior to QED, he was VP of Oncology Research at Ignyta, where he built a highly productive research team from the ground up and led multiple programs to NDA and IND milestones. Before Ignyta, Gary held various scientific positions with increasing responsibilities at Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, contributing to target ID/validation, drug discovery, and multiple drug approvals.
Gary earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an inventor of multiple patents, has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, and delivered over 100 invited talks and meeting presentations.
Chris Horvath
Chris brings nearly two decades of biopharmaceutical oncology expertise spanning drug discovery, commercialization, and corporate leadership, to AdvanCell.
Over the past 8 years, Chris has been responsible for commercial strategy and leadership, launch preparation and execution, and revenue growth of both clinical-stage and commercial radiopharmaceuticals in oncology. Most recently at POINT Biopharma, he served as EVP, Commercial, and managed cross-functional alliance operations with Lantheus for two clinical-stage assets. As head of the prostate cancer franchise at Novartis/Advanced Accelerator Applications, Chris orchestrated the organizational build and set the strategic foundation for the successful US launches of Pluvicto and Locametz. Prior to this, Chris held progressively senior commercial positions at Janssen, Dendreon, Merck, and Bayer.
Chris's academic background includes a BSc in Chemistry & Biology from Wilfrid Laurier University, an MSc in Analytical Science from the University of Guelph, and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Management & Marketing from Rutgers Business School.
Stephen Rose
Stephen has over 25 years’ experience in clinical R&D within the academic sector along with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency. He works closely with clinicians developing the next generation of molecular imaging, therapeutic and diagnostic platforms targeting oncology sector. Before joining AdvanCell, Prof Rose was director of a prestigious CSIRO Future Science Platform, a highly successful $35m research program with over 30 FTE scientific staff at the PhD level to drive innovation in the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals sector. This included targeting the development of novel theranostic platforms for improved delivery of novel alpha radioligand therapies for difficult to treat cancers.
During this career, Prof Rose has made a significant contribution to obtaining competitive funding from various national medical research funding bodies (NHMRC, MRFF), state government R&D initiatives, the international pharmaceutical industry and private medical service providers. In terms of impact on health, he introduced to Australia a new PET tracer (F18-FEOBV) to measure cholinergic function in dementia patients and was instrumental in establishing clinical molecular imaging research program using MRI, F18-FDOPA and F18-FMISO PET to improve care pathways for patients with brain cancer. Prof Rose has played a major role of bringing new liquid biopsy diagnostic tests to the clinic including the development of NeuroLiB; the first epigenetic ccfDNA assay for detecting neural injury currently being validated through a prospective clinical trial. He was also instrumental in establishing a $5 million theranostics discovery R&D program with GenesisCare, the largest private providers of cancer care services in Australia. Prof Rose has published more than 240 manuscripts in international peer reviewed journals. In terms of general citation indices, his work has been cited 11900 times and his h-index is 52.
Kevin K. W. Kuan
Kevin received his PhD in the field of synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Adelaide in 2016 studying biomimetic synthesis of marine natural products. He joined AdvanCell in October 2021 and is currently Director of Operations.
Prior to joining the company, Dr. Kuan was the Head of Chemistry and Product Development at Clarity Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company’s radiopharmaceutical product development and manufacturing operations across all stages of clinical development. Dr. Kuan held various roles of increasing responsibility at the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit (MITRU), a TGA licensed cyclotron facility belonging to the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).
Dr. Kuan has extensive experience in the implementation and supply of Investigational Medicinal Products for clinical trials and the development of radiometals on cyclotron solid targetry systems.
He holds a patent for Formulations of PSMA Imaging Agents (Australian Patent No. AU 2019901765) and is a Member of the Royal Australian Chemistry Institute (MRACI) and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine (ANZSNM)
William Tieu
William holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Adelaide and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney where he developed novel radiopharmaceuticals. He joined AdvanCell in October 2021 as the Head of Chemistry.
Dr Tieu has over 11 years’ experience in drug development, project management and GMP manufacturing. Prior to joining AdvanCell Isotopes, Dr Tieu was the Senior Research Radiochemist at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, with responsibility for managing the development of over a dozen radiopharmaceutical and radioisotope products. His role also included scientific contribution to numerous chemistry, radiation and pre-clinical studies. During this period, he was part of a team who helped develop several radiopharmaceuticals including [18F]FDOPA, MK6240, [64Cu]Cu-peptides, [64Cu]Cu-ATSM, [89Zr]Zr-mAbs and production of various imaging isotopes including 68Ga, 89Zr, 45Ti and ²⁰³Pb.
Dr Tieu also has experience with manufacturing of 89Zr-mAbs for a first in human Phase 1 clinical trials. He has 26 publications and 2 patents with his work has been cited more than 443 times. His h-index is 13. Dr Tieu is a current member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Amanda Walker
Amanda joins AdvanCell from POINT Biopharma, recently acquired by Eli Lilly, where she led the clinical development of novel PSMA and FAP-directed radioligands. Previously, she served as Medical Officer and Associate Director of the Oncology Center of Excellence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins, where she specialized in breast, gynecologic, and genitourinary malignancies. As a board-certified radiation oncologist with over 12 years of clinical experience, Dr. Walker offers a unique perspective on the development of radioligand therapy, including comprehensive expertise in radiation biology and clinical oncology. She has also served as Medical Director of Radioligand Therapy at Novartis and Adjunct Investigator at the National Cancer Institute. She received her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her radiation oncology residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Sheruna Naidoo
Sheruna completed a PhD in Medical Radiation Science from the University of Sydney in 2010 and has over 15 years' experience in radiopharmaceutical manufacturing and registration. She has a deep understanding of the sterile manufacturing and regulatory requirements specifically in this area.
Sheruna’s professional career has spanned across clinical Nuclear Medicine, including research and development, facility design, sterile manufacturing and supply of radiopharmaceuticals in both the private and public health sectors.
She brings specific skills and background to AdvanCell in governance, risk management and radiopharmaceutical science (RPS) and drug registration.
Thomas Kryza
Thomas completed a PhD in Biological Sciences and Biochemistry at the University of Tours in 2013 where his research was focused on the involvement of proteases in lung cancer progression. In 2014, Thomas moved to the Queensland University of Technology- Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre as a Research Fellow to work on the roles of proteases in prostate cancer progression.
In 2018, Thomas started to work at the Mater Research Institute – University of Queensland as a Senior Research Officer focused on the development and preclinical validation of targeted therapies for pancreatic, ovarian and breast cancers. Thomas has been involved in various translational projects conducting to multiple high-impact publications, novel preclinical models and the progression of several agents to clinical testing.
Thomas joined AdvanCell as Preclinical Development Manager in October 2022 to push forward the preclinical development of the AdvanCell's targeted alpha therapy portfolio.
Megan Crumbaker
Dr. Megan Crumbaker is a medical oncologist. She earned her medical degree from the University of Sydney and completed a PhD in prostate cancer genomics at the University of New South Wales.
As a clinician-scientist at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Dr. Crumbaker gained strong experience in cutting-edge clinical trials focusing on radioligand therapies and translational biomarkers. With a dedication to both research and patient care, Dr. Crumbaker is committed to advancing the field of oncology through innovative research and clinical trials.
Julian F. Kelly
Julian has over 20 years of expertise working with & managing nuclear & radioactive materials. He has a PhD in chemical physics (ANU), and over 10 years of experience developing IP on the innovative uses of radiation and radioactive materials. Julian held scientific roles at CSIRO, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, and at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Julian served as Nuclear Attaché in the Australian Embassy in Vienna, representing Australia on technical nuclear matters at the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Board of Directors
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Bill Ferris
Bill is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Company. Bill was appointed Chair of the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) in March 2020, the largest source of funding in Australia for the development and commercialisation of early stage bio-medical discoveries providing both the capital and expertise to guide the successful emergence of new therapies. Bill was the inaugural Chair of Innovation and Science Australia from 2015 to 2018.
Bill's former recent directorships include: Chairman, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Chair of the Federal Government’s Health and Hospitals Fund Advisory Board. Other former directorships include: Chairman, Accolade Wines Australia and UK, Austar United Communications, Australian Trade Commission (Austrade); Macquarie University Asia Pacific Council; and Director, Garvan Research Foundation, Austal Ltd and Australian Institute of Management (NSW) Ltd. Bill also joined the expert panel for the Federal Government’s Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in October 2011 and was a member of the Harvard Business School Asia Pacific Advisory Council from 2010 – 2019.
Bill was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1990 for services to the export industry and in 2008 was made Companion in the Order of Australia for his philanthropic activities, as a leader in support of medical research and his role in the establishment of the private equity sector in Australia.
Bill is the author of 3 books: “Really Making a Difference” published December 1993, “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained” published March 2000, and “Inside Private Equity”, published January 2013.
Andrew Adamovich
Andrew is a founder and Managing Director of AdvanCell Isotopes. Prior to AdvanCell Isotopes, Andrew led investment activities for Riverland Capital, a private investment firm, where as a founder and director he focused on investing in China.
Andrew is a director of G2 Therapies, a spinout from the Garvan Institute, and is a director of CGI Glass Lewis, the Australian affiliate of Glass Lewis, a corporate governance advisory firm. Andrew was a director and shareholder of Yuan Chuan Radio (sold to Shanghai-listed Orient Securities), ASX-listed Hostworks Group (sold to Broadcast Australia), amongst other listed and private companies.
Andrew began his career at Peregrine Investments in Hong Kong in 1997 and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Berkeley.
Andrew is an experienced investor in healthcare and is responsible for business development for AdvanCell and corporate activities for the Company.
Kevin Cameron
Kevin is CEO at Ionetix Corporation. Prior to joining Ionetix in 2011, Mr. Cameron served as President of Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent corporate governance research firm which he co-founded in 2003. Prior to Glass Lewis, he served as General Counsel at Moxi Digital, a technology venture founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Mr. Cameron previously served as General Counsel at NorthPoint Communications, a publicly-traded broadband telecommunications company acquired by AT&T. Before NorthPoint, he was an attorney with the corporate law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans in Washington D.C. and served as a law clerk to the Hon. James L. Buckley of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Mr. Cameron is a director of KERYX Biopharmaceuticals (NASD:KERX), a director of AvidBiotics, a former director of Reddy Ice, and was a founding board member of ProCure Treatment Centers, the leading provider of proton therapy treatment in the U.S. He earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. at McGill University.
Anthony Aiudi
Anthony Aiudi has been part of the investment team at Morningside Technology Advisory since 2020. He has experience providing operational and managerial oversight to early-stage biotechnology companies.
Anthony serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas. He has also facilitated company creation, completed multiple financings for private companies, and provided operational support for portfolio companies.
Anthony completed a Fellowship in Clinical Research at Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Northeastern University, where he was also adjunct faculty. He later was a clinical research scientist at Merck & Co. From late 2015-2020, he was a director at Stealth BioTherapeutics, where he led the clinical development for numerous rare disease programs through their global Phase 3 program and supported the company through its IPO.
Anthony received his Pharm.D. and MBA from the University of Rhode Island and an M.S. in finance from Northeastern University.
Scientific Advisory Board
Oliver Sartor
Dr. Sartor is an internationally recognized expert in prostate cancer. His medical practice and research have focused on prostate cancer since 1990 when he finished a medical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He has published over 500 manuscripts and led or co-led multiple national and international clinical studies, including multiple phase III studies pivotal for FDA approval in prostate cancer (samarium-153 EDTMP, cabazitaxel, radium-223, and Lu-177-PSMA-617). In addition to therapeutic studies, he has long been involved with translational and scientific studies with prostate cancer patients. He has lectured widely, and at last count has given invited lectures in 33 countries.
After serving as a Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Tulane Cancer Center for 15 years, he moved to Mayo Clinic in April 2023 where he is now Professor of Medical Oncology, Chief of the Genitourinary Cancers Group, and Director of Radiopharmaceuticals.
Ken Herrmann
Dr. Hermann is a well-known leader in the field of oncologic nuclear medicine. He currently acts as Chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Universitätsklinikum Essen in Germany, Chair of the EANM Oncology & Theranostics Committee, and serves as a Section Editor of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Ken’s earlier career found him as a Visiting Assistant Professor promoted to Associate Professor in the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division of the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles in addition to holding his position as Vice Chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Universitätsklinikum Würzburg. Ken holds a Doctorate Degree from Humboldt Universität Berlin and completed his residency in Nuclear Medicine at Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München in addition to his MBA, which he received from the Universität Zürich, Switzerland in 2011.
Louise Emmett
Dr. Emmett is the Director of Theranostics and Nuclear Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia, and a clinical researcher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. She is also a Professor of Medicine (conjoint)at the University of New South Wales. She underwent her medical training at Auckland University, New Zealand, physician training in Sydney, Australia, and postgraduate training in nuclear cardiology in Toronto, Canada. Her Doctorate of Medicine in nuclear cardiology was completed in 2014. Dr Emmett has a subspecialty interest in prostate cancer and has been Principal Investigator (or Co-PI) on multiple prospective phase 1-3imaging and therapy theranostics trials since 2014. Dr Emmett is focused on the clinical development of new theranostic agents, optimal combinations, and functional imaging biomarkers for better personalisation of treatment choices in theranostics.
Michael Morris
Dr. Morris is a prostate cancer specialist, clinical investigator, full member, and the Section Head of Prostate Cancer of the Genitourinary Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
He earned his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and performed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He then completed his medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Morris has led numerous clinical trials but has a particular research focus on targeted therapy for prostate cancer, especially those that bridge the fields of Medical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine. In the field of therapeutics, he has focused on tumor and bone-directed radiopharmaceuticals for prostate cancer. He was part of the leadership team that developed Lu-177 PSMA-617, which is now FDA approved for men with advanced prostate cancer. He has a research focus interest in developing novel imaging technologies for metastatic prostate cancer and in credentialing imaging biomarkers. He has been a co-developer of the Prostate Cancer Working Group 2 and 3 Consensus Criteria, and prostate-specific imaging technologies such as PSMA-directed PET imaging. In addition, he is the Medical Director of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium. He has long had an interest in novel methods of implementing prostate cancer clinical trials, and utilizing digital methods to reduce barriers to expertise, clinical care, and investigational studies.
Tom Hope
Dr. Hope is the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Strategy in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California San Francisco. He serves as the Director of Molecular Therapy at UCSF and as Chief of Nuclear Medicine at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
In 2007, he received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and he completed a one-year internship at Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco. Subsequently, he completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at UCSF, followed by a clinical fellowship in Body MRI and Nuclear Medicine from Stanford. Dr. Hope’s main research focus is on novel imaging agents and therapies, particularly in prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. He helped lead the development of Ga-68 PSMA-11, which subsequently led to the approval of this drug by the FDA. Additionally he leads the PRRT program for neuroendocrine tumors and PSMA Radioligand Therapy at UCSF.
Clemens Kratochwil
Dr. Kratochwil studied medicine at the University of Ulm in Germany. After graduating from medical school, his residency led him through the Departments of Nuclear Medicine of the University Hospital Ulm, Technical University Munich and Heidelberg University Hospital. He received his Doctors Degree (“18F-FLT for monitoring treatment response”) in 2008. Since 2010 he worked as a consultant and since 2013 as the supervising physician of the radionuclide ward of Heidelberg University Hospital.
His clinical and preclinical scientific interest is focused on targeted alpha-emitter therapy. Work related to 213Bi-Dotatoc was decorated with the SNM Nuclear Oncology Council Young Investigator Award and the RSNA Trainee Research Prize in 2011. Work related to 225Ac-PSMA617 with the EANM Marie Curie Award and the Therapy Award of the German society of Nuclear Medicine. Using ²⁰³Pb surrogate imaging, he explored PSMA-ligands with favorable characteristics for ²¹²Pb labeling. As a nuclear medicine professional and researcher, he already (co)authored approx. 180 peer-reviewed articles.
Christopher Sweeney
Professor Christopher Sweeney is the inaugural Director of the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAIGENCI) at the University of Adelaide.
He received his medical degree from the University of Adelaide and completed an internship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Professor Sweeney did his residency in internal medicine at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center (Wisconsin, USA) and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Indiana University Medical Center (Indiana, USA), where he was later appointed Associate Director for Clinical Research for the Simon Cancer Center. Professor Sweeney joined the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts, USA) in 2009. He was promoted to Full Professor at Harvard University in 2018 and returned to Australia in 2022. His primary research interest is drug discovery and development. His academic focus is primarily on the management of genitourinary malignancies, with a focus on prostate and testicular cancer.
