Alpha Cancer Technologies
Alpha Cancer Technologies (ACT) is a private, clinical-stage biotechnology company in Toronto. Our platform is alpha fetoprotein (AFP), the protein that protects the fetus during pregnancy: it calms the mother’s immune system so it does not attack the embryo, and it carries nutrients from the mother to the fetus.
ACT’s recombinant AFP, ACT-101, turns that biology into medicine: settling harmful immune responses in autoimmune disease, and — as the drug conjugate ACT-903, in preclinical development — carrying a cancer payload into tumor cells and the immune cells that shield them.
ACT holds exclusive worldwide rights to AFP. Licensor Merrimack Pharmaceuticals invested over US$100 million in ACT-101, including Phase I and II studies in over 300 patients with an excellent safety record, and an FDA Drug Master File covering manufacturing, toxicology, and human safety.
Management Team
Richard Potts
ChairCo-founder of Alpha Cancer Technologies and its Chair. Previously CEO and Chair of Lorus Therapeutics (now Aptose Biosciences), a TSX/NASDAQ-listed biotechnology company. Over his career he has founded, financed, and led growth companies across biotechnology, medical technology, and information technology, securing public listings and strategic partnerships. He is also Chair of MaRS Discovery District in Toronto.
Dr. Igor Sherman
President and CEOPresident and CEO of Alpha Cancer Technologies. Previously Director of Clinical Research and Director of Scientific Affairs at YM BioSciences, where he led preclinical and clinical development and registration strategy for the oncology and pain portfolio, and Scientific Director of Oncology at AstraZeneca Canada.
Dianne Parsons (CA)
CFOChief Financial Officer. Ms. Parsons has held senior financial roles in technology-based businesses, turnaround situations, and manufacturing, with a focus on strategic planning, operations, and financial management. She has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations. She holds a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA).
Christopher W. Morgan
Board MemberDirector. Mr. Morgan was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for 30 years and managed the firm’s Toronto office, advising Canadian clients on cross-border debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings. He has been repeatedly listed in The Best Lawyers in Canada for corporate law.
Scientific Advisory Board
Daniel D. Von Hoff
MD, FACP, FASCO, FAACRPhysician-in-Chief and Distinguished Professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, and Chief Scientific Officer of US Oncology Research. One of the world’s leading Phase I investigators, he helped develop widely used cancer drugs including gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane). He is a past president of the AACR and recipient of its 2010 Karnofsky Award.
Phil Gold
CC, OQ, MD, PhD, FRSC, DSc (Hon) MACP, FRCP(C)Emeritus Professor of Medicine at McGill University. With Samuel Freedman, Dr. Gold discovered carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in 1965 — the first clinically useful human tumor marker and still the most widely used blood test in oncology. He was the inaugural Director of the McGill Cancer Centre, Chairman of Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief of the Montreal General Hospital. He is a member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
Michael Julius
PhDProfessor Emeritus of Immunology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Julius chaired the university’s Department of Immunology (1994–2000) and served as Vice-President, Research at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (2000–2020), where he built a $125 million research enterprise that spun off 15 companies. His research on lymphocyte activation spans four decades and more than 230 publications.
Sam Sadeghi
PhDAssociate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University and Associate Member of the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering. His laboratory develops molecular imaging agents and targeted radiotherapeutics for cancer, including the radiolabeled ACT-101 imaging and therapy program (⁸⁹Zr-ACT-101 and ¹⁷⁷Lu-ACT-101).
Ingmar Bruns
MD, PhDChief Medical Officer of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. Previously, as Chief Medical Officer of Trillium Therapeutics, he was instrumental in its US$2.2 billion sale to Pfizer, which closed in November 2021, and then served at Pfizer as Development Head, Hematologic Malignancies. A hematologist-oncologist, he has held senior clinical development roles at Pieris Pharmaceuticals and Bayer, and attending positions in New York and Düsseldorf.
Clinical Advisory Board | Myasthenia Gravis
James F. Howard Jr.
MDProfessor of Neurology, Medicine and Allied Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he directs the Myasthenia Gravis Clinical Trials and Translational Research Unit. Former Chief of its Neuromuscular Disorders Division. Dr. Howard has been a lead investigator for several therapies approved for MG, including Alexion’s Soliris, approved by the FDA in 2017. He is also Adjunct Professor at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine.
Gil Wolfe
MDSUNY Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University at Buffalo, where he chaired the Department of Neurology from 2012 to 2024 and directs the neuromuscular and MDA clinical programs. Dr. Wolfe was clinical chair of the international MGTX trial of thymectomy in myasthenia gravis and chaired the panel behind the international MG treatment guidance.
Clinical Advisory Board | IBD
Jean-Frédéric Colombel
MDProfessor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, where he directs the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center. A past president of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization, he has authored or co-authored more than 1,100 papers on IBD, including work on the ASCA biomarker and the NOD2 gene.
Pierre Desreumaux
MD, PhDProfessor of Gastroenterology at the University of Lille, France, where he leads an INSERM research unit on the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease. A clinician at Lille University Hospital, he has published more than 300 papers on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Stephen B Hanauer
MDClifford Joseph Barborka Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Digestive Health Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. An internationally recognized authority on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, Dr. Hanauer is a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology, former chair of the FDA Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee, and author of more than 500 publications.
Head Office
