Jasper Therapeutics announced it has named Vishal Kapoor to its board of directors. Kapoor is currently a partner at Avego Management, an affiliate of Velan Capital, where he heads the company’s life sciences venture investing strategy.
Previously, Kapoor served as president at Amplitude Healthcare Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company that focused on life sciences. Amplitude merged with Jasper Therapeutics in September 2021.
Jasper is currently putting its bets on its monoclonal antibody targeting c-Kit (CD117), briquilimab, for treatment of chronic mast and stem cell diseases. Some of those conditions include chronic urticaria and lower to intermediate risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
The company is currently examining briquilimab in a Phase 1/2 dose-escalation and expansion trial for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) transplant.
However, earlier this year, Jasper halted plans to begin a Phase 3 blood cancer trial for briquilimab, noting it wanted to focus on the “most well-characterized opportunities with the clearest and potentially fastest pathway to market.”
Instead, the company said it would concentrate on moving forward with a clinical trial in chronic severe urticaria, as well as recruiting for its SCID, Fanconi anemia and sickle cell disease transplant studies.
“With the completion of our successful public offering last month, we are well-positioned to begin carrying out our priority development programs for briquilimab as a c-Kit targeting therapeutic in chronic diseases and as a novel conditioning agent for stem cell transplant,” Ron Martell, president and CEO at Jasper, said in a statement.
“With substantial resources in place and a clear plan for achieving near-term clinical milestones, it is an excellent time to welcome someone of Vishal’s caliber to our board,” Martell continued. “His track record of successful industry experience speaks for itself, and we look forward to benefiting from his strategic counsel.”
Kapoor has held various roles in biotech and life science companies, making him an industry veteran. He served as chief business officer at Iveric Bio, where he helped the company bring on a gene therapy portfolio and ophthalmology therapeutic assets. He also previously served as director of corporate development at NPS Pharmaceuticals.
Past roles included some at Genentech, where he spent nine years, and led ophthalmology and central nervous system pipeline assets. Before that, Kapoor also worked at Pfizer.
