Cerecor Inc. Appoints Gilla Kaplan, to Its Board of Directors
October 12, 2020 at 07:00 am EDT
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Cerecor Inc. announced the appointment of Gilla Kaplan, to the Board of Directors. Dr. Kaplan brings with her over 30 years of academic and industry experience. Dr. Kaplan is recognized as an authority on various aspects of the host immune response to mycobacterial pathogens, including the causative agents of leprosy and tuberculosis (TB). She was the Director of the Global Health Program, Tuberculosis, at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) from January 2014 until April 2018. Her work has encompassed developing a deep understanding of the cellular immune response and how to harness it for host adjunctive therapies. She spent her career as an academic research scientist leading her laboratory in investigations focusing on human disease, exploring novel experimental medicine approaches that modulate the immune response for disease control. Building on her research experience at Rockefeller University in New York City (for 20 years) and then at the Public Health Research Institute Center at UMDNJ (for 10 years), she led the reshaping of the tuberculosis program at BMGF. Dr. Kaplan is the recipient of multiple grants from the NIH-NIAID and other funding organizations for her research. Dr. Kaplan served on the Board of Directors at Celgene from 1998 to 2018 and is currently a member of Tyra Bioscience Inc. Board of Directors.
Avalo Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the treatment of immune dysregulation. The Company's lead asset is AVTX-009, an anti-IL-1β mAb, targeting inflammatory diseases. Its pipeline also includes quisovalimab (AVTX-002) (anti-LIGHT monoclonal antibody (mAb)) and AVTX-008 (BTLA agonist fusion protein). AVTX-009 is a humanized monoclonal antibody (IgG4) that binds to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) with high affinity and neutralizes its activity. IL-1β is a central driver in the inflammatory process. Quisovalimab shows reduction of Lymphotoxin-like, exhibits Inducible expression, and competes with HSV Glycoprotein D for Herpesvirus Entry Mediator (HVEM), a receptor expressed by T lymphocytes (LIGHT) levels, as well as a favorable safety and tolerability profile, in all indications studied including COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), Crohn's Disease, and non-eosinophilic asthma (NEA).
AVALO THERAPEUTICS, INC. 
