TopAlliance Appoints Virginia Ellen Maher, MD, as Vice President of Medical Sciences

SHANGHAI, China, Nov. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TopAlliance Biosciences, a wholly own subsidiary of Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) today announced the appointment of Dr. Virginia Ellen Maher as VP of Medical Sciences, reporting to the company's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patricia Keegan. In her new role, she will lead or support the company’s regulatory filing activities and assist Dr. Keegan in overseeing the company’s overall clinical development programs.

Dr. Maher has 30 years of experience in oncology clinical, both in clinical trials and regulatory development and approval of oncology drugs. Prior to joining TopAlliance, she served as the Executive Director and Principal Clinical Consultant at DataRevive, a biopharmaceutical regulatory consulting firm. Prior to that, she worked in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for nearly 20 years, serving as Team Leader at the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and as a Team Leader in the Office of Cell, Tissue, and Gene Therapy in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), and as a Medical Officer in the Division of Biologic Oncology Products in the Office of Oncology Drug Products at CDER. During her tenure at the FDA, Dr. Maher served as the chief clinical reviewer for several blockbuster cancer drugs, such as bevacizumab, pazopanib, crizotinib, avelumab, atezolizumab, and durvalumab. Before joining the FDA, Dr. Maher worked at the Schering-Plough Institute, the National Cancer Institute, and the Tulane Medical Center.

"We welcome Dr. Maher to TopAlliance and Junshi Biosciences. Dr. Maher has extensive experience in clinical and drug review, especially in the field of oncology clinical trials and the review and approval of market authorization for oncology drug applications,” said Dr. Patricia Keegan, Chief Medical Officer of Junshi Biosciences. "We believe Dr. Maher will play a leading role in the global clinical development of the company’s innovative drugs, facilitate the entry of additional products into clinical trials and commercialization, and assist Junshi Biosciences in achieving its ‘In China, for Global’ strategy.”

Dr. Maher received her Doctorate of Medicine from the Temple University School of Medicine in 1986. She then completed her medical residency at the Washington Hospital Center and her Hematology/Medical Oncology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

About Junshi Biosciences
Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R & D pipeline comprising 45 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Junshi Biosciences was the first Chinese pharmaceutical company that obtained marketing approval for anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody in China. Its first-in-human anti-BTLA antibody for solid tumors was the first in the world to be approved for clinical trials by the FDA and NMPA and its anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody was the first in China to be approved for clinical trials by the NMPA. In early 2020, Junshi Biosciences joined forces with the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Science and Eli Lilly to co-develop JS016 (etesevimab), China’s first neutralizing fully human monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV-2. JS016 administered with bamlanivimab has been granted Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) in 15 countries and regions worldwide. The JS016 program is a part of our continuous innovation for disease control and prevention of the global pandemic. Junshi Biosciences has over 2,500 employees in the United States (San Francisco and Maryland) and China (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou). For more information, please visit: http://junshipharma.com.

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