CAMBRIDGE, MA, March 27, 2023 -- hC Bioscience, Inc., a pioneer in the development of tRNA-based therapeutics, appointed Christine Foster, DPhil, as Chief Business Officer to lead the Company’s global business development and strategic partnering activities. She brings extensive experience in identifying, structuring, and executing partnerships and M&A transactions, including within the field of gene editing.
“The platform nature of tRNA opens up multiple partnering opportunities for the technology and its therapeutic applications,” said Dr. Foster. “tRNA is the next generation of RNA-based therapies. It has the unique potential to address multiple gene mutations associated with a single disease in a single therapy.”
Dr. Foster brings valuable experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, having held senior roles in business development, strategic planning, and alliance management at leading companies such as Intellia, Metagenomi, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis. She has also served as an advisor to biotech start-ups and venture capital firms.
Leslie Williams, President & CEO of hC Bioscience added, “Christine will fill an important role as we build value and efficiently capitalize the business through strategic partnering. hC Bioscience has assembled foundational IP, a deep team of R&D and informatics experts, and the support of a strong board and investor syndicate to catalyze our growth.”
hC Bioscience is developing a novel approach to RNA-based therapeutics. Mutations in mRNA can result in incomplete and dysfunctional proteins, thereby causing disease. hC Bioscience’s engineered tRNAs aim to bypass these mutations to produce full-length functional proteins so they can perform their intended function. tRNA-based therapies have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases, including inherited rare diseases and cancer.
Prior to joining hc Bioscience, Dr. Foster served as Chief Business Officer at Mnemo Therapeutics. She has more than 30 years of industry experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Throughout her career, she has developed and executed strategic partnerships, including transactions in the field of genome editing. View full bio to the right.
hC Bioscience is dedicated to improving the lives of patients with the development of first-in-class tRNA-based therapeutics to target protein dysfunction. hC Bioscience’s innovative approach to precision protein editing has the potential to treat genetically defined conditions, which account for 10-15% of all human disease. The lead platform in development is directed at restoring protein function in diseases caused by nonsense mutations or premature termination codons (PTCs). A single tRNA therapy has the potential to treat many diseases, regardless of the gene or location of the mutation.
