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Jo Viney, Ph.D. is co-founder, President and CEO of Seismic Therapeutic, a clinical stage autoimmune disease focused company. A seasoned biotech executive, she has co-founded 3 companies in MA, the first of which, Pandion Tx, was acquired by Merck in 2021 for $1.85B. Prior to Pandion she held research leadership positions at Biogen, Amgen, and Immunex. She is an experienced director on both private and public company boards. Jo is an advocate for workplace inclusiveness and regularly volunteers her time with organizations focused on increasing diversity.

Inhibitory receptors play a critically important role in maintaining tolerance and restoring normal immune homeostasis following inflammatory challenge. Here we describe creation of a bifunctional antibody designed to optimally agonize the inhibitory receptors PD-1 and FcγRIIb. PD-1 is an inhibitory receptor that is upregulated on effector T cells by activation and functions to “apply the brakes” to return cells to a resting state. PD-1 is also expressed on Treg and functions to maintain stability. FcγRIIb is an inhibitory receptor expressed on B cells and antigen presenting cells where it functions to prevent B cell receptor signaling as well as inhibiting production of proinflammatory mediators from myeloid cells. The PD-1:FcγRIIb bifunctional agonist antibody, S-4321, attenuates inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo in preclinical studies and is on track to enter Phase Ib clinical trials in patients with dysregulated cell-mediated immunity.