Alphina Therapeutics Welcomes Marc Damelin, Ph.D., As Chief Scientific Officer

Alphina Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on creating a leading NAMPT inhibitor for treating various solid tumors, has named Marc Damelin, Ph.D., as its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Damelin brings over 17 years of experience in oncology drug discovery and development, specializing in diverse mechanisms of action. Throughout his career, he has held prominent scientific leadership positions in top oncology companies, contributing to the development of innovative platform technologies and clinical compounds, which have led to various significant partnerships.

Alphina Therapeutics has adopted a unique approach to NAMPT inhibition, using novel insights and a synthetic lethality strategy to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of its small molecules. Unlike earlier clinical efforts targeting NAMPT, Alphina has created a proprietary patient selection assay to identify patients with non-small cell lung, small cell lung, colorectal, ovarian, and other solid tumors who are more likely to benefit from its drug candidates. The company has also refined its molecules to reduce the toxicities seen with previous NAMPT inhibitors, improving both safety and efficacy.

Nick Galli, Alphina's Chief Executive Officer, mentioned, "As we work toward advancing our lead NAMPT inhibitor program into the clinic, now is the perfect time to add someone with Marc's impressive scientific experience and drug development track record. We are thrilled to welcome Marc to the leadership team and will lean on his expertise to guide our NAMPT inhibitor program. At the same time, Marc's skill in drug discovery and development will prove valuable as we look to expand our portfolio by exploring new targets, programs, and modalities.”

Dr. Damelin also stated, "Having had the opportunity to work on cutting-edge approaches to oncology drug discovery and development for the past 17 years, it is clear to me that Alphina's data-driven, multi-pronged approach has great therapeutic potential. Not only has the company created compounds with the potential to overcome the limitations of previous NAMPT inhibitor programs, but it has developed a proprietary patient selection assay to pair the drug candidate with those patients most likely to benefit from treatment. I look forward to working with the talented team at Alphina to create and execute a development plan that maximizes both the opportunity for success and the overall benefit to patients.”

Dr. Marc Damelin previously served as Vice President and Head of Biology at Mersana Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge, MA, specializing in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancers with high unmet needs. At Mersana, he contributed to the discovery of innovative ADC platform technologies and clinical compounds, three of which progressed to clinical trials. 

His efforts also led to three major partnerships, securing $170 million in upfront payments—an asset-based deal with GSK and platform-based collaborations with Merck-Serono and Janssen (J&J). Before Mersana, Dr. Damelin spent 10 years at Pfizer’s Oncology Research Unit, where he led discovery projects that advanced into clinical development and oversaw ADC discovery efforts from target validation to clinical trials.