CEO Today USA Awards

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 74 CEO Today USAAwards 2018 MASSACHUSETTS DR. GARRY MENZEL , PH.D. President and CEO of TCR 2 Therapeutics ABOUT DR. GARRY MENZEL Dr. Garry Menzel is President and CEO of a T cell immunotherapy company TCR 2 Therapeutics that is backed by MPM Capital. He brought them out of stealth mode in 2016 with the goal of developing the next generation of novel T cell therapies for patients suffering from cancer. The company has filed its first investigational new drug (IND) with the FDA and hopes to be treating patients in 2019. The pipeline has four more clinical candidates funded with a $125M series B financing concluded earlier this year. T cell therapies are a relatively new option for cancer patients with the first receiving approval form the FDA in 2017 for use in certain hematological malignancies. At the time, the FDA described the field as “entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient’s own cells to attack a deadly cancer”. These early CAR-T cell therapies have produced some remarkable clinical responses but have proven to carry significant side effects and limited activity against solid tumors. TCR 2 was founded to build on these early T cell therapy innovations while addressing their limitations and making product candidates available to a broader patient population, particularly in solid tumors which represent 90% of all cancer. The platform on which the company is based involves harnessing the entire T cell receptor (TCR) signaling complex to specifically recognize and trigger the killing of cancer cells by the immune system. The T cell is fitted with a “homing” device to detect a specific antigen on the surface of cancer cells. This produces a more powerful yet controlled killing because all subunits of the TCR are engaged without requiring any auxiliary boosters. The weapon in this life-and-death battle is called a TCR Fusion Construct T cell or TRuCT cell for short. In preclinical studies with multiple TRuC-T cell product candidates, TCR 2 has shown better antitumor activity, longer persistence and lower cytokine release compared to existing CAR-T cell therapies bearing the same tumor antigen binding domains. The lofty goal of the company is nothing short of trying to cure cancer with these TRuC-T cell therapies. Dr. Menzel developed his passion for curing cancer at an early age. He had relatives who died from the disease and his Ph.D. studies involved working out the pathways that activate oncogenes in immune cells. However, the journey to leading a cancer company has not been direct. Two decades were spent advising other executives on strategy and finance while at the prestigious firms Bain and Goldman before he took the plunge in operations. Even then he accumulated C-suite experiences at three healthcare companies before taking the helm at TCR 2 Therapeutics. He also co-founded another oncology company called Black Diamond Therapeutics that is backed by Versant Ventures. Those varied corporate experiences have been invaluable in his current role. They have produced a CEO who is versatile in