Updated: Off-the-shelf cell therapy pioneer Allogene recruits a Kite vet to run R&D

Bioregnum Opinion Column by John Carroll

After riding out much of a rough year at Instil Bio — capped by a decision to pause and then scrap the lead tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte program and slash more than half the staff — Zachary Roberts will be ringing in the new year as the head of R&D at one of the pioneers of off-the-shelf cell therapies.

Allogene chief David Chang offered me a preview of the switch, which sees Rafael Amado making his exit from Allogene in an anticipated change to a new — and so far still unrevealed — post in biotech.

Soon after the news arrived about the changeup at Allogene, Zai Lab CEO Samantha Du put out word that Amado is joining her biotech as head of oncology R&D.

Rafael Amado

For Chang, the misfortunes at Instil during an overall bitter year in biotech opened the door to reuniting him with the former VP of clinical development at Kite, where Chang and Arie Belldegrun made their mark with one of the first of two autologous, or personalized, CAR-Ts.

Roberts went from a residency at Mass General to Dana-Farber and through a short stint at Amgen before finding his way to Kite in 2015, where he was part of a high-powered team assembled for the development of Yescarta, now under the Gilead umbrella following the $12 billion buyout in 2017.

“Zach is a hard one to get a hold of,” said Chang with a smile. “I’ve been trying to recruit him from the early days. I’m a little bit slow. It took me four years to get him on board.”

The stars aligned last November, when Roberts left Instil shortly after the company was forced to concede that its lead program had been derailed after manufacturing issues prevented researchers from dosing patients during ongoing clinical trials. Last December, Instil followed up with a decision to scrap the program, cut the staff by 60% and change its primary R&D focus. By the end of the year, the stock price $TIL had fallen 96%.

By that time, Roberts was out and had already attended Allogene’s R&D day in New York, where the top team presented a look forward to off-the-shelf’s future after experiencing their own big setback with a clinical hold on their work. That hold was lifted in a matter of months, but it set the biotech further behind on its quest.

“Zach brings not only the experience but also the connections he has with the investigators out there and also his reputation and track record,” says Chang, which positions him to finish the first big allogeneic pivotal program. It’s a job that balances their focus on new tech and strategies while hammering out the final stretch in the clinic for the lead.

Roberts is picking up some familiar areas in his new job.

“I’m not sure I know of another person, not to toot my own horn too loudly here, who has hands-on experience developing cell therapies for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, BCMA multiple myeloma as well as renal cell carcinoma,” he says. “I have connections across those three indications. I come in the door with a network and also an intimate understanding of the therapeutic landscape for all three of those indications.”

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