The Oxford University Innovation (OUI) Press Center said Hanmi Science CEO Lim Jong-yoon, the largest stakeholder of Cancer Rop, was appointed as a registered director of Oxford Vacmedix.

Cancer Rop is the largest stakeholder of Oxford Vacmedix, which recently appointed Hanmi Science CEO Lim Jong-yoon as a registered director.
Cancer Rop is the largest stakeholder of Oxford Vacmedix, which recently appointed Hanmi Science CEO Lim Jong-yoon as a registered director.

Oxford Vacmedix, based at the Oxford Science Park, the U.K., is a biopharmaceutical firm spun out from the University of Oxford’s Oncology Department in 2012.

Cancer Rop, a South Korean molecular diagnostics company, secured a 42.89 percent stake in Oxford Vacmedix and became the largest shareholder in 2018.

Willian Finch, CEO of Oxford Vacmedix, said he was pleased to have Lim on the board of directors at an important time when the company was advancing its flagship cancer vaccine OVM-200 to a phase 1 clinical trial.

Finch introduced Lim as an expert in immunology and drug development and said he has accumulated rich experience in corporate development and resource investment by engaging in biotech business in the U.S., China, and Korea for many years.

Finch went on to say that Lim majored in biochemistry at Boston University and joined Hanmi Pharmaceutical.

When Lim served as head of Beijing Hanmi Pharm, he established Beijing Hanmi Research Center showing his expertise and enthusiasm in R&D, Finch said.

After Lim took office as Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s CEO in 2009, he led a fast growth of the company by licensing out many new drug candidates to multinational pharmaceutical companies, Finch noted.

Now, Lim is CEO of Hanmi Science, and he was appointed as chairman of Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization in 2019, Finch added.

According to Oxford Vacmedix, Lim recently visited the U.K. to discuss joint efforts for vaccine R&D with a partner company, which Vacmedix has yet to disclose.

“I will support Oxford Vacmedix so that its recombinant overlapping peptide (ROP) technology could help make a safe and effective treatment for cancer patients to live a longer and better life, and that the cancer vaccine could advance ‘into the clinic stage’,” Lim said in a statement.

“This technology can be used for the development of vaccines against infectious diseases, and it will be able to grow with appropriate Series B investment.”

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