Poolbeg Pharma (POLB) has appointed Dr Adrian Kilcoyne to its Scientific Advisory Board, strengthening the company’s clinical and drug development expertise as it advances its cancer immunotherapy programmes.
Dr Kilcoyne brings more than 20 years of clinical and strategic leadership experience in drug development, with a focus on oncology and immunology. His expertise includes haematological malignancies, T-cell therapies and Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS), an inflammatory response that can occur following immunotherapy treatments.
He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Cellectis, where he focuses on the development of allogeneic CAR-T therapies. Previously, he was Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research & Development at Celularity, advancing oncology-focused allogeneic CAR-T and natural killer (NK) cell therapy programmes.
Dr Kilcoyne has also held the role of Chief Medical Officer at Humanigen, where he helped develop immunology and oncology portfolios centred on cytokine pathway therapies, CAR-T therapies, immunotherapies and Antibody Drug Conjugates across haematology and solid tumours. Across his career, he has also held senior leadership positions at major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including AstraZeneca, Celgene, Sanofi, Roche and Eli Lilly.
Dr Kilcoyne trained in medicine at Trinity College Dublin before specialising in Gynaecological Oncology at Hammersmith Hospital in London. In addition, he earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from Oxford, completed professional training in pharmaceutical medicine and later obtained an MBA from Warwick Business School.
Poolbeg Pharma’s Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board Prof Luke O'Neill said: “We are delighted to welcome Dr Kilcoyne to Poolbeg's Scientific Advisory Board. He brings a wealth of experience in oncology and cell therapy drug development, combined with deep clinical insight and regulatory expertise which will be invaluable to us as we progress POLB 001 through the TOPICAL trial with the ultimate aim of transforming cancer care for patients and healthcare systems.”
Dr Adrian Kilcoyne said: “I am pleased to join the Scientific Advisory Board of Poolbeg Pharma and to have the opportunity to contribute to the development of POLB 001. Having seen first-hand both the clinical impact on patients and the economic burden on healthcare systems posed by immunotherapy related CRS, I believe POLB 001 has the potential to transform the patient experience. The prevention of CRS remains a significant unmet need and addressing it may enable access for a greater number of patients to life-saving immunotherapies.”
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The appointment adds further clinical depth to Poolbeg’s advisory board as the company progresses POLB 001, its lead programme targeting Cytokine Release Syndrome linked to cancer immunotherapies. Given Dr Kilcoyne’s experience across CAR-T development and cytokine pathway therapies, his expertise could help guide the clinical and regulatory strategy as the TOPICAL trial moves forward.