Company OverviewOncoSec Immunotherapies
OncoSec (NASDAQ:ONCS) is a biotechnology company pioneering new technologies to stimulate the body’s immune system to target and attack cancer. Through its proprietary DNA gene transfer technology, OncoSec seeks to deliver safer and more effective cancer treatments that can provide long-term benefits for patients who have limited or no available treatment options.
OncoSec’s technology combines TAVO™ (tavokinogene telseplasmid), an intratumoral (IT) DNA plasmid-based interleukin-12 (IL-12) designed to achieve targeted and sustained delivery of IT IL-12. TAVO has demonstrated a local and systemic anti-tumor response in several clinical trials, including preliminary data in a registration directed Phase 2b trial KEYNOTE-695 for anti-PD-1 checkpoint refractory metastatic melanoma and the KEYNOTE-890 Phase 2 trial in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC). To date, preliminary study results have laid the groundwork for the expansion into new DNA-encoded therapeutic candidates and tumor indications. OncoSec plans to develop TAVO, along with other immunologic genes to treat other cancer indications. OncoSec has received both Orphan Drug and Fast-Track Designation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for TAVO in metastatic melanoma.
Speaker BioCEO & Director
OncoSec Immunotherapies
Mr. O’Connor has over 20 years of executive experience and leadership in all aspects in the biopharmaceutical industry, including CEO leadership of two public companies, OncoSec Medical (Nasdaq:ONCS) and Advaxis ((Nasdaq:ADXS) as well as senior executive leadership positions at ImClone Systems (Nasdaq:IMCL) , Bracco Diagnostics, and PharmaNet (today, Syneos Health).
When Mr. O’Connor joined OncoSec as CEO in November 2017, the company had approximately two months of cash runway, a stalled clinical development program with no strategic direction, no partnerships and was missing key management personnel. Under Mr. O’Connor’s leadership, the company has secured approximately $150 million in capital with sufficient cash on the balance sheet to meet important data inflection points, initiated a string of strategic partnerships with top research institutions and large pharma companies, and has multiple value-creating clinical programs underway with the company’s lead product candidate, TAVOTM, including a pivotal study in anti-PD-1 checkpoint refractory metastatic melanoma and a phase 2 program in metastatic triple negative breast cancer.
Mr. O’Connor made key strategic and management changes to enhance clinical and regulatory expertise, improve operating efficiencies across the business and focused resources on the company’s promising technology platform. Under Mr. O’Connor’s leadership and strategic planning, the company reversed a faltering clinical development program by operationalizing a pivotal study in metastatic melanoma (KEYNOTE-695) and then initiated a second study in metastatic triple negative breast cancer (KEYNOTE-890), both partnered with Merck & Co. using Keytruda® in combination with TAVO.
Mr. O’Connor led the discovery and development of the company’s pioneering visceral lesion applicator (VLA), designed to deploy TAVO beyond surface lesions and enable it to treat deep internal tumors, such as gastrointestinal, pancreatic and hepatocellular carcinomas. Mr. O’Connor also recognized the potential of the company’s TAVO technology to address the COVID-19 pandemic and within weeks assembled collaborations with the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Providence Health to develop a novel vaccine by combining NIH’s enhanced “Spike” DNA sequence with TAVO. This program, funded by Providence Health, one of the largest non-profit hospital networks in the U.S., has commenced clinical trials.
As CEO of Advaxis, Mr. O’Connor up-listed the company onto NASDAQ and, in five years, transformed it from a near-bankrupt penny-stock company into a well-funded, well-staffed, leading cancer immunotherapy company with collaboration partners including Amgen Inc., Merck & Co., Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca. When Mr. O’Connor joined Advaxis in 2012, the company was deeply in debt, unable to raise capital due, trading on the OTC, and could not make payroll for its handful of employees. Mr. O’Connor redefined the strategic path of the company, up-listed it to NASDAQ and raised meaningful long-term investment capital from institutional investors. Mr. O’Connor developed and broadly communicated a new business strategy that turned Advaxis into a patient- focused, leading cancer immunotherapy company.
In 2017, Mr. O’Connor was elected and then re-elected Vice Chairman of BioNJ, leveraging his experience to guide and support the organization’s mission of fostering the innovation of research-based life science companies in the New Jersey region. In 2017, Governor Chris Christie appointed Mr. O’Connor to the New Jersey Biotechnology Task Force. The Task Force was created to improve communication between State government and the industry to find ways to help retain and attract biotechnology companies to New Jersey. In 2015, Ernst & Young named Mr. O’Connor Entrepreneur of the Year® in New Jersey. Also, in 2015, he was the “Highly Commended” award winner for the 8th Vaccine Industry Excellence Award (ViE) Best Biotech CEO. In May of 2017, he was among a select group of biotech CEO’s and other industry leaders to participate in a private “Biotech Summit” meeting at the White House with the President and Vice President and met in the Oval Office with the President. In 2018, he received Irish American Magazine Healthcare & Life Sciences 50 Honoree.
At ImClone, Mr. O’Connor served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary where he helped lead the clinical development, launch, and commercialization of ERBITUX® and resolved several critical corporate issues, including the settlement of an inventorship litigation, which resulted in ImClone’s sale to Eli Lilly in 2008. While at PharmaNet (today, Syneos Health), Mr. O’Connor served as General Counsel and was part of the senior leadership team that grew the company from a start-up contract research organization to a leader in clinical research.
Mr. O’Connor is an inventor on several patents and patent applications and conceived of the idea to use personal neoantigens as a patient specific cancer immunotherapy, which was subsequently licensed to Amgen.
Mr. O’Connor is a 1995 graduate of the Penn State University’s Dickinson School of Law and served as a Special Advisor to its Dean, as well as a guest lecturer. In November 2019, he received the “Entrepreneur of the Month” award from Penn State Dickinson Law.
Mr. O’Connor graduated from the United States Marines Corps Officer Candidate School in 1988 and was then commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marines, attained the rank of Captain and served in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. He received the National Service Metal and the Southwest Asia Service Medal. He is a former New Jersey criminal prosecutor.
