SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Calico Life Sciences LLC (Calico), a biotechnology organization focused on the biology of aging and age-related diseases, and founded by Alphabet and Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., today announced the appointment of Michael Lenardo, M.D., as its new Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Lenardo will join the company in August after completing his term as Co-Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Clinical Genomics Program at the National Institutes of Health.Dr. Lenardo is an accomplished molecular immunologist and geneticist whose medical research career spans four decades. He has been recognized for his work on fundamental immunological mechanisms and is particularly known for discovering the genetic basis, pathogenesis, and treatment of several congenital disorders of the immune system."Securing someone of Mike's caliber for the critical role of Chief Scientific Officer is a major achievement for Calico," said Dr

Calico appoints Jessica Wilan as Head of Human Resources.

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Calico Life Sciences today announced the publication in Nature of the discovery and preclinical data that demonstrate investigational ABBV-CLS-484 is a potential first-in-class, orally bioavailable, PTPN2/N1 phosphatase inhibitor that enhances anti-tumor immunity. The findings, based on research conducted by AbbVie in collaboration with the Broad Institute and Calico, support the development of ABBV-CLS-484 as a promising new strategy for cancer immunotherapy.Titled "The PTPN2/PTPN1 inhibitor ABBV-CLS-484 unleashes potent anti-tumour immunity," the paper highlights the novel structural insights and design that led to the discovery of ABBV-CLS-484 and its dual mechanism of action that targets tumor cells and suppresses their growth, as well as promotes the activation of several immune cell types to increase their anti-tumor activity.1Researchers at the Broad previously identified protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) and its closely related paralog PTPN1 as potential targets for cancer immunotherapy through an in vivo CRISPR screen.2 However, this challenging target class had previously been deemed "undruggable". AbbVie researchers overcame the challenges and discovered the dual PTPN2/N1 inhibitor, ABBV-CLS-484, through structure-based drug design and optimization of drug-like properties.Discovery scientists at AbbVie, the Broad, and Calico further uncovered the biology and mechanism of action of ABBV-CLS-484. Preclinical findings presented demonstrate that ABBV-CLS-484 treatment amplifies the tumor intrinsic response to interferon and increases the activation and function of several immune cell subsets promoting cellular pathways including JAK-STAT signaling in animal models