David Passmore (Past Speaker)

Mr. Passmore has over 20 years of technical and operations experience in discovery-stage organizations developing first-in-class biotherapeutics.  Mr. Passmore initiated his scientific career in the mid-1990’s with Anergen, a biotechnology company that pioneered immuno-therapies against autoreactive T-Cells.  Mr. Passmore later joined Dynavax Technologies to work on the early development of CpG immuno-stimulants as vaccine adjuvants.  In 2001, Mr. Passmore signed on with immuno-oncology leader Medarex where he established, and built over time, a state-of-the-art analytical lab for characterization of therapeutic antibodies to support discovery operations.  During his tenure at Medarex, Mr. Passmore was an integral part of the team that discovered ipilimumab (Yervoy®) and nivolumab (Opdivo®).  It was at this time that Mr. Passmore obtained his MBA through an Executive program at Pepperdine University.  Mr. Passmore went to Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2009 as part of the BMS acquisition of Medarex.  At BMS, Mr. Passmore led a team of scientists that identified clinical candidates for multiple programs in immuno-oncology and targeted cancer therapies.  Drawing on his industry experience and business training, Mr. Passmore founded a consulting practice in 2017 to provide technical and commercial services to biotechnology companies; including at immunomics leader HealthTell, where he was instrumental in the formation of RubrYc Therapeutics in March 2018.  Mr. Passmore currently heads up the commercial team at RubrYc and is responsible for the company’s business development, commercial strategy, and marketing communications.