CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom and MONTREAL, April 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Epitopea, a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company developing accessible, off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies for hard-to-treat solid tumors, today announced the appointment of Lisa Butterfield to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). A highly respected leader in immuno-oncology, Dr. Butterfield brings extensive expertise in cancer vaccines, immune profiling, biomarker development and cellular therapies for solid tumor types. Her appointment comes as Epitopea advances its pipeline of RNA-based cancer immunotherapies, including its lead candidate CryptiVax™-1001, for high-grade serous ovarian cancer.
Most recently, Lisa Butterfield worked in Discovery Oncology at Merck in South San Francisco and was also an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. She previously served as Vice President of Research and Development at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and held academic leadership roles at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a tenured Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Immunology and Clinical and Translational Science and Director of the Hillman Cancer Center Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory.
Dr. Butterfield has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, reviews and book chapters and has played a prominent leadership role in the cancer immunotherapy field. She served as the first female President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and previously chaired the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.
“Epitopea’s approach to uncovering Cryptigen™ tumor-specific antigens from the dark genome represents truly innovative thinking in cancer immunotherapy,” said Lisa Butterfield. “I am particularly excited by the opportunity to translate these discoveries into off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies that have durable patient benefits. I look forward to helping the team shape its scientific strategy as the company advances towards the clinic.”
Dr. Alan C. Rigby, Chief Executive Officer of Epitopea, commented: “Lisa brings exceptional expertise in cancer vaccines, tumor immunology and translational immunotherapy. Her experience spanning academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research will be extremely valuable as we continue to advance our pipeline and progress our lead programme, CryptiVax™-1001, into the clinic.”
Dr. Butterfield’s appointment further expands Epitopea’s world-renowned Scientific Advisory Board to support the advancement of its RNA-based cancer immunotherapies targeting hard-to-treat solid cancers.
About Epitopea
Epitopea is a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company developing accessible, off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies for hard-to-treat solid tumors.
Epitopea’s pipeline is built on Cryptigen™ TSAs, a new class of tumor-specific antigens identified by CryptoMap™, the company’s proprietary immunopeptidomics and genomics platform that uncovers aberrantly expressed antigens arising from previously uncharacterised regions of the genome.
The company’s lead candidate, CryptiVax™-1001, is an off-the-shelf mRNA therapeutic vaccine in development for high-grade serous ovarian cancer. It is designed to drive targeted immune responses using a set of tumor-specific antigens chosen for broad patient coverage. Many patients with advanced cancers, including high-grade serous ovarian cancer, have limited durable treatment options and few effective therapies beyond biomarker-selected populations. Epitopea aims to address this unmet need with broadly applicable, tumor-selective immunotherapies.
Backed by leading life-science investors, Epitopea operates from Cambridge, UK, and Montreal, Canada. For more information, visit www.epitopea.com and follow the company on LinkedIn.
For further information
Epitopea
Dr. Alan C. Rigby – CEO
Alan.Rigby@epitopea.com
Scius Communications (for Epitopea)
Katja Stout
+44 7789 435990
katja@sciuscommunications.com
Daniel Gooch
+44 7747 875479
daniel@sciuscommunications.com
