Harpoon Therapeutics appointed Dr. Hans-Peter Gerber chief scientific officer. Harpoon is a preclinical stage biotechnology company founded by MPM Capital that is developing two novel classes of T-cell recruiting therapies for treating cancer patients.

With more than 20 years of oncology drug development experience, Dr. Gerber is a world-renowned expert in developing antibody-based therapies that redirect the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. He has deep expertise in target identification and validation, selection of therapeutic modalities and lead compounds, the development of companion diagnostics, translational medicine, and early clinical development and regulatory filings.

“We are extremely pleased to have Hans-Peter join Harpoon’s leadership team,” said Patrick A. Baeuerle, Harpoon’s CEO and MPM Capital managing director. “The breadth of his experience will support Harpoon’s strategy to develop innovative cancer therapies that use T-cell recruiting antibodies against hematologic and solid tumor targets. With his scientific guidance and successful track record for executing external collaborations and licensing deals with academia and corporate partners, we expect to expand Harpoon’s pipeline of breakthrough cancer therapies.”

Dr. Gerber joins Harpoon from Pfizer where he was most recently vice president and chief scientific officer of Bioconjugates Discovery and Development at its Oncology Research Unit. Prior to this role, he held positions at Wyeth Discovery Research—subsequently acquired by Pfizer—and at Seattle Genetics, where he was head of the Translational Biology Department and contributed to the development of therapeutic antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). Earlier in his career, he spent 11 years at Genentech in research studying the mechanisms involved in regulating blood vessel formation and developing therapeutic antibodies interfering with tumor growth.