Dr Wiebe Olijve joins Catapult Therapeutics as a Scientific Advisor

Lelystad, The Netherlands, May 2017 – Catapult Therapeutics B.V., a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing cancer treatments, announced today that Dr Wiebe Olijve will join Catapult as a scientific advisor. Dr Olijve is an experienced research leader and has developed a range of biotech applications.

Until recently, Dr Olijve served as the CEO and co-founder of BioNovion (now Aduro Biotech Europe). Before that, he was vice president of Schering-Plough Biopharma (now Merck Research Laboratories). He founded the Organon Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where antibodies are developed to treat oncological and auto-immune diseases. Here, he led the project that discovered the blockbuster anti-cancer drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Dr Olijve has spent many years in leadership positions at Organon, where he and his team developed one of the first recombinant proteins, follicle stimulating hormone (Puregon).

Dr Wim Mol, CEO of Catapult Therapeutics, said: “I am delighted that Wiebe will be joining Catapult Therapeutics. His extensive scientific background and track record in developing biotech products will strengthen and bring new skills to the leadership of our company”.

Dr Olijve said: “I am pleased to be working with Catapult Therapeutics on developing an antibody against a novel target that will yield a unique mechanism to tackle CCR7-expressing tumors. I am looking forward to advancing CAP-100 on to clinical testing and developing the product so it reaches its full potential in the treatment of cancer”.