Cytovia Therapeutics – Natural Killer Cells to Fight Cancer

Dr. Daniel Teper, CEO and co-founder of Cytovia Therapeutics discusses being the first company combining stem cell engineering and multispecific antibodies to empower natural killer (NK) cells to fight cancer through a two-punch approach. The company’s gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) NK Cell and NK Cell-engager antibody platforms provide significant benefits over existing cell therapies in terms of accessibility, clinical safety, efficacy, and manufacturing. Clinical trials are already planned and will be conducted globally leveraging Cytovia’s strategic collaborations. He also talks about new data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 2022 meeting providing preclinical in vivo and in vitro validation of two of their multispecific antibody proprietary therapies, one to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), both alone and with stem cell-derived natural killer cells, and the other to treat multiple myeloma (MM) by targeting different binding sites. 

Dr. Teper is the principal founder of Cytovia Therapeutics. He established the strategic vision of the company and secured the key foundation product and technology acquisitions. Dr. Teper brings extensive experience as a biopharma entrepreneur, corporate executive, and management consultant. Previously, Dr. Teper was the founder and CEO of Immune Pharmaceuticals, which he listed on NASDAQ. He also served as New York-based Managing Partner (Head of North America) at Bionest Partners, where he advised companies on corporate strategy and business development. Dr. Teper is a Strategic Advisor to Steba Biotech, an innovative drug-device oncology company affiliated with the Weizmann Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.​

He was previously a Partner at ISO Healthcare Group (now Deloitte Monitor) in New York. Dr. Teper helped drive the accelerated growth of Softwatch, a pioneer digital health company, as senior vice president of sales and business development. He also served as global president of Havas Health, advising companies on global launches of major new drugs in multiple disease areas. Dr. Teper started his career at Novartis in Basel and then in the US, where he held management responsibilities in sales and marketing and as head of cardiovascular, new product development.​

Dr. Teper held general management positions in Europe at GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi. He was the co-founder and CEO of Wintec Pharma, a European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on anti-infectives and dermatology, which he went on to sell. Dr. Teper co-founded Novagali, an ophthalmology specialty pharma later listed on EuroNext Paris and acquired by Japan’s Santen. He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Paris XI University and an MBA from INSEAD, where he was the J. Salmon scholar.