Kite's head of re­search leaves for Flag­ship start­up Sonata

An­oth­er leader is de­part­ing Kite Phar­ma, and will to spend the “last part” of his ca­reer ex­plor­ing how can­cer evades the im­mune sys­tem.

Kite’s se­nior VP and glob­al head of cell ther­a­py re­search Francesco Mar­in­co­la left the Gilead CAR-T unit last week for Sonata Ther­a­peu­tics. Flag­ship last May un­veiled the start­up, which was pieced to­geth­er from two fledg­ling biotechs Inzen and Cyg­nal Ther­a­peu­tics. As CSO, Mar­in­co­la will lead Sonata’s push to re­pro­gram can­cer cells to make them more im­muno­genic.

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