The Swedish oncology company Oncorena appoints new CEO

2018-06-26

Oncorena AB announces that a new full-time CEO has been appointed effective July 1. Lars Grundemar will lead the company in the intense development phase ahead.

Oncorena develops a completely new and potentially groundbreaking treatment for patients with metastatic kidney cancer. The company is approaching a more intense development phase that will require a full-time CEO. Lars Grundemar has served as the Chief Scientific Officer of Oncorena and he will now assume the CEO position on July 1, 2018.

Dr. Jan Törnell has successfully led Oncorena since 2013 as part-time CEO. Because of other ongoing commitments, he is unable to fill this position full-time.

Lars Grundemar, M.D., Ph.D. has more than 20 years leadership experience from the global pharmaceutical industry with assignments in major corporations and different countries in Europe and in the US. Dr. Grundemar has been leading multiple drug development projects across various therapeutic areas, including oncology. He has established new departments and introduced novel ways to improve research and development functions.

“We are excited to work with Lars Grundemar as CEO to bring Oncorena into the clinical phase in the near future,” says Bengt-Åke Bengtsson, Chairman of the Board of Oncorena. “We would also like to thank Jan Törnell for his excellent leadership through the company’s preclinical development phase.”

“I am very honored over this trust and look forward to this challenge. It’s a great privilege to be able to contribute to the development of a novel therapeutic principle to combat cancer and to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from kidney cancer,” says Lars Grundemar, new CEO of Oncorena.

“I strongly believe in the success for Oncorena and I’m certain that the company is in the best of hands moving forward. I will make every effort to contribute to a smooth transition for Lars Grundemar into his new role as CEO,” says Jan Törnell, currently CEO of Oncorena.

For further information, please contact
Bengt-Åke Bengtsson, Chairman of the Board, Oncorena AB,
bengt-ake.bengtsson@medic.gu.se, phone +46 (0)70 746 0000

Lars Grundemar, CEO of Oncorena from July 1, lars.grundemar@oncorena.com,
phone +46 (0) 76 209 5518

Jan Törnell, CEO, Oncorena AB, jan.tornell@pulsinvest.se
phone +46 (0)70 676 0008

About kidney cancer
Approximately 1,000 patients are affected by kidney cancer annually in Sweden and around 600 of them die. 80% of the patients are between 40 and 69 years of age when they are diagnosed (median age 63 years). The disease can often be cured with surgery if detected in time, but unfortunately the diagnosis is often made when the tumor has already spread to other organs. The prognosis is then considerably less favorable and certain groups have a median survival of only approx. 1.5 years. Today the disease is treated with various types of targeted and immuno-active drugs, often with severe side effects, and standard chemotherapy drugs have only very limited effect. There is therefore a great need for new, effective and safe drugs.

About the project
The substance, orellanine, originally emanates from a mushroom and has been ingested by mistake by a number of people. The effects are well documented and are limited to the kidneys. As the target group for the treatment is patients with metastatic kidney cancer who are undergoing dialysis the side effect profile is believed to be relatively mild. Experimental studies indicate that the effect may be dramatically positive. The preclinical studies will be completed during 2018, whereupon the clinical study is expected to start in the spring of 2019. Learn more at www.oncorena.com.

About Oncorena
Oncorena develops a completely new and potentially revolutionizing treatment for patients with metastatic kidney cancer. The treatment is based on research at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, led by professors Börje Haraldsson and Jenny Nyström. The project was initially developed with support from Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency, and GU Ventures and is now mainly financed by PULS AB, and HealthCap, a family of venture capital funds investing globally in life sciences.