About Us
Overview
Ryvu Therapeutics is a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company focused on novel small molecule therapies that address emerging targets in oncology.
Ryvu Therapeutics was founded in 2007 and currently we employee approximately 300 employees, including 90 Ph.Ds. Ryvu was previously known as Selvita, until renamed to Ryvu Therapeutics after spin out of the services segment.
The company is headquartered in Kraków, Poland. Ryvu Therapeutics is developing therapeutics that address clinical limitations of current treatments in oncology. Our work is defined by deep scientific knowledge, organizational efficiency, and a high throughput discovery engine platform.
Our lead candidate, RVU120, is a selective CDK8/CDK19 kinase inhibitor with the potential to treat hematological malignancies and solid tumors, currently in Phase II development (i) as a monotherapy for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (r/r AML) and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (HR-MDS) – RIVER-52, (ii) in combination with venetoclax for the treatment of patients with r/r AML – RIVER-81 as well as a monotherapy for the treatment of patients with LR-MDS – REMARK..
SEL24 (MEN1703) is a dual PIM/FLT3 kinase inhibitor licensed to the Menarini Group.
Early pipeline candidates include candidates developed in the area of kinases, synthetic lethality and immuno-oncology.
Ryvu technological expertise is validated by global partnerships with BioNTech, Merck KGaA, Exelixis, Menarini Group and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
OUR VALUES:
Our purpose: improve the life of cancer patients.
Management
Pawel Przewiezlikowski, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Krzysztof Brzozka, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Scientific Officer
Kamil Sitarz, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Vatnak Vat-Ho, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Hendrik Nogai, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Pawel Przewiezlikowski, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Przewiezlikowski is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Ryvu Therapeutics, responsible for strategic management, business and corporate development of the company. He is also the President of Supervisory Board at Ardigen and Member of the Supervisory Board at Selvita. Before founding multiple companies in the biotechnology sector (Ryvu, Ardigen, NodThera), Mr. Przewiezlikowski was a member of the executive team at technology company Comarch, responsible for divisions involved in multiple industries including the pharmaceutical industry. He was also the co-founder, the first CEO and then the Vice President of the Supervisory Board of Interia.pl, the third largest Internet portal in Poland.
Mr. Przewiezlikowski is a member of the Economic Council of the Malopolska (Krakow) region. He was awarded Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his contributions to the development of Poland’s business environment, as well as, EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 award in the New Technologies/Innovation category in Poland.
Mr. Przewiezlikowski holds an MBA from the joint program of the Teesside University (United Kingdom) and Krakow School of Economics (Poland) as well as master degree in computer science from AGH Technical University in Krakow. He also studied IT at the Technical University in Berlin.
Krzysztof Brzozka, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Brzozka is the Chief Scientific Officer at Ryvu Therapeutics. He has joined Ryvu Theraputics in 2007 and has applied his interdisciplinary expertise ever since, in order to build a broad pipeline of small molecule oncology therapeutics and a high throughput discovery engine platform. Dr. Brzozka is responsible for the management of the early pipeline candidates, covering their full development until clinical phase. He is also responsible for bringing into the clinic two Ryvu first-in-class oncology programs: dual PIM/FLT3 inhibitor SEL24/MEN1703 and SEL120, CDK8 inhibitor.
Dr. Brzozka is also a member of the board of Ardigen, a bioinformatics and precision medicine company, and contributed to the founding of NodThera, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutics related to inflammasome biology.
Dr. Brzozka holds a Ph.D. degree from Ludwig Maximilian University. He also earned an MBA from the Stockholm University School of Business and the Krakow University of Economics Business School. Dr. Brzozka contributed to over 70 scientific publications and presentations in areas of oncology, immunology, intracellular signaling and medicinal chemistry. His publications were cited nearly 3500 times and published in such journals as Science, Blood, Molecular Cell or Oncotarget.
Kamil Sitarz, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Dr Sitarz is the Chief Operating Officer at Ryvu Therapeutics. He joined Ryvu Therapeutics in 2013 as a Senior Scientist and Biology Leader. Subsequently, he was promoted to the position of Principal Investigator/Project Manager, and later to Director of R&D Biology Department. After the corporate split in 2019, dr Sitarz became the Head of R&D Operations, and in November 2020 he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer position, along with his appointment to the Management Board of the Company. Dr Sitarz holds an executive responsibility for design, implementation, and co-ordination of day-to-day business operations, as well as financial and performance management. Moreover, he is in charge of establishing and implementing corporate policies, procedures and processes, as well as management of administrative and operational functions at the Company.
Dr Sitarz holds an M.Sc. degree in Biophysics from Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland) and a Ph.D. degree in Human/Medical Genetics from Newcastle University (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK). He has also graduated from the joint Executive MBA program at Cracow School of Business CUE, EM Normandie Business School and AESE Business School. He is the co-author of a dozen of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Vatnak Vat-Ho, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Vatnak Vat-Ho is the Chief Business Officer at Ryvu Therapeutics. Mr. Vat-Ho is responsible for a wide scope of corporate and business development activities at Ryvu including strategic positioning, partnering discussions, alliance management as well as investor interactions.
Mr. Vat-Ho brings in almost 20 years of professional experience spanning pharma, biotech, as well as capital markets expertise to Ryvu. Vatnak Vat-Ho spent the first 10 years of his professional career in a variety of investment banks and global equity healthcare funds, later moving to the pharma and biotech industry. His experience includes an 8-year tenure at Pfizer where he held several roles, concluding in the position of Senior Director/Team Lead, Strategy, Business Development & Alliances in the commercial development organization. Most recently Mr. Vat-Ho served as Vice President, Business Development at Affimed Inc. where he was responsible for leading partnering activities for both the preclinical and clinical pipeline, as well as serving as alliance manager for the company’s collaborations.
Mr. Vat-Ho received his AB degree in Biology from Harvard University, and MBA from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.
Hendrik Nogai, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Hendrik Nogai is the Chief Medical Officer at Ryvu Therapeutics. Dr. Nogai is responsible for leading medical, clinical, and regulatory functions to support and guide the development of the company’s pipeline.
Hendrik Nogai is a board-certified medical doctor in Hematology/Oncology as well as in Internal Medicine, with almost 10 years of experience in patient care and basic research in different academic settings, including Charité – University Medicine Berlin, University Hospital in Munich, and Zentralklinikum Augsburg. Besides his clinical expertise, Dr. Nogai’s brings 17 years of industry experience including business consulting at Mercer Management Consulting/ Oliver Wyman, medical advisory at Nordic Biotech Capital ApS, and positions of increasing responsibility at Bayer AG, with his most recent role of Vice President, Global Development Leader NTRK program.
Dr. Nogai has completed his Medical Studies at Charité – University Medicine Berlin (Germany), Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich (Germany) and Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA). He holds a doctoral degree awarded by the Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany) for his research on cell biology.
Supervisory Board
Rafal Chwast
Rafal Chwast
Mr. Rafal Chwast is Executive Vice President at Nowy Styl and CEO of Nowy Styl International. Previously, as Chief Financial Officer of Comarch, Mr. Chwast was responsible for financial supervision of the group’s subsidiaries, raising capital through the stock exchange and the acquisition of the company CDN.
Mr. Chwast served as CEO of the Association of Stock Exchange Issuers, and was also a member of the Capital Market Council operating at the Prime Minister office. He a graduate of Cracow University of Economics (Accounting) and the AGH Technical University in Krakow (Computer Science).
Mr. Chwast is the President of the Audit Committee at Selvita.
Scott Z. Fields
Scott Z. Fields, M.D.
Dr. Scott Z. Fields is a medical oncologist/hematologist with more than 30 years of experience in clinical drug development. Dr. Fields currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at NeoTX Therapeutics.
Prior to joining NeoTX, Dr. Fields was the Global Head of Development for Oncology at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. In this role, he was responsible for early and late-stage development, including several novel oncology medicines across the platforms for targeted therapies/precision medicine, antibody-drug/alpha radiation conjugates and novel Immuno-Oncology agents, such as Darolutamide (Androgen Receptor inhibitor for prostate cancer), Larotrectinb (NTRK inhibitor - tissue agnostic), Xofigo (Radium223 – alpha particle emitter for prostate cancer), Copanlisib (PI3K inhibitor for lymphoma) and Regorafinib (multi-kinase inhibitor for liver, colon and GIST). Prior to his position at Bayer, Dr. Fields held senior positions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, SmithKline Beecham, Amgen, Eisai, and Arno Therapeutics and helped bring over a dozen drugs to market. He also practiced oncology/hematology and transplant medicine in academic settings.
Dr. Fields received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, followed by training in internal medicine and hematology, and oncology at Columbia University Medical Center.
Axel Glasmacher
Axel Glasmacher, M.D.
Professor Axel Glasmacher, M.D., is an oncologist with more than 25 years of experience in the field. Currently he serves as the non-executive chairperson at the board of 4D Pharma, as well as a board member of the international non-profit organization The Cancer Drug Development Forum. Until recently, Professor Glasmacher held the position of Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Clinical Research and Development Hematology Oncology at Celgene, where he has worked in various global roles for more than ten years and contributed to the development of products including Revlimid (lenalidomide), Vidiza (azacitidine), Idhifa (enasidenib) and luspatercept.
Professor Glasmacher conducted clinical research with a focus on hematological malignancies at the University of Bonn, where he continues to teach. He is a former editor for the Cochrane Hematological Malignancies Group and has contributed to practice guidelines for the Germany Society of Hematology and Oncology and the British Society of Hematology. Professor Glasmacher received his medical degree from the University of Bonn.
Piotr Romanowski
Piotr Romanowski, Chairman of the Board
Dr. Romanowski is a senior advisor and investor across biotech, deep tech and financial services. He is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Selvita S.A.. Previously, Dr. Romanowski has spent over 20 years in strategic management consulting as Partner in McKinsey & Company and PwC where he specialized in strategy and M&A in financial services, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, and health care.
Dr. Romanowski was also a Board Member at Bank Millennium S.A. responsible for Corporate and Investment Banking. He holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge and MD, PhD in cancer genetics from the Medical University of Gdańsk. Dr. Romanowski is a Member of the Audit Committee at Ryvu Therapeutics.
Peter Smith
Peter Smith, Ph.D.
Dr. Peter Smith is a pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development. He has proven experience in company building and the discovery and development of new therapeutics for various diseases of unmet need. Dr. Smith is Co-Founder and currently Chief Executive Officer of Remix Therapeutics. He also serves as Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Atlas Venture, where he is Co-founder and Acting CSO of Amplify Medicine, as well as an advisor to other Atlas portfolio companies.
Previously, he served as CSO at H3 Biomedicine, where his team introduced three molecules into the clinic with precision medicine approaches to treat various cancers. Prior to H3 Biomedicine, he was at Millenium/Takeda, where he focused on oncology drug discovery and early clinical development.
Dr. Smith received his PhD from Newcastle University and completed post-doctoral training at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Thomas Turalski
Thomas Turalski
Thomas Turalski has over seventeen years of experience in the biotechnology arena ranging from public and private investing and exposure to the corporate, operational and regulatory side of company development. As Portfolio Manager, Mr. Turalski currently leads the investment team at Revidea Ventures.
Prior to joining Revidea ventures, he spent eleven years at Perceptive Advisors, a top ranked healthcare investment fund, where he led investments in Myogen, Morphosys and Pharmacyclics among many others. He was also responsible for the firm’s investment in Acerta Pharma where he was a member of the founding team as well as the board of directors. Mr. Turalski received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.
Tadeusz Wesolowski
Tadeusz Wesolowski, Vice Chairman of the Board
Dr. Tadeusz Wesolowski has more than 20 years of experience in investment and management of companies. He has consistently advised and participated in the creation of new ventures in the pharmaceutical market.
In 1990 he founded and managed PROSPER S.A. (part of NEUCA Group), a company that for over 17 years has been one of the leaders on the pharmaceutical distribution market in Poland. Currently, he serves on the Supervisory Board of NEUCA.
Dr. Wesolowski received his PhD in Technical Sciences from Warsaw University of Technology. He is a Member of the Audit Committee at Ryvu Therapeutics.
Collaborations
Awards
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Economic Award of the President of Poland
16/08/2018 -
Economic Award of the President of Poland
22/08/2019
CSR
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Unicorn
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Unicorn
http://www.selvita.comLorem ipsum, dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Corrupti quisquam quod ab cumque quasi neque praesentium ipsum, atque autem quia blanditiis delectus nulla earum mollitia eum placeat vitae numquam optio?
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Unicorn
http://www.selvita.comLorem ipsum, dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Corrupti quisquam quod ab cumque quasi neque praesentium ipsum, atque autem quia blanditiis delectus nulla earum mollitia eum placeat vitae numquam optio?