Fannin Partners and Allterum Therapeutics, Inc. are pleased to announce that Brian Wipke, Ph.D., an accomplished immunologist and drug discovery and development leader with more than 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience, has joined the organizations as a Vice President to help advance Allterum's pipeline and support Fannin's growing precision therapeutics portfolio.
HOUSTON, Jan. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Fannin Partners and Allterum Therapeutics, Inc. are pleased to announce that Brian Wipke, Ph.D., an accomplished immunologist and drug discovery and development leader with more than 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience, has joined the organizations as a Vice President to help advance Allterum's pipeline and support Fannin's growing precision therapeutics portfolio.
Dr. Wipke brings deep expertise in immunology, autoimmune and inflammatory disease biology, translational research, and preclinical development across a broad range of therapeutic modalities, including antibodies and bispecifics, non-antibody biologics, small molecules, mRNA, antisense oligonucleotides, and aptamers. He has led cross-functional teams from discovery through IND, contributed to regulatory documentation and IND filings, and built and managed high-performing research teams.
Most recently, Dr. Wipke served as Vice President, Biology, at Manifold Biotechnologies, where he managed and mentored teams responsible for in vivo pharmacology and assay development, designed proof-of-concept preclinical studies, and helped shape pipeline strategy and business development efforts as a member of the senior leadership team.
Prior to Manifold, Dr. Wipke spent five years at Moderna, where he held leadership roles including Senior Director of Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases and Director of Immunology, Moderna New Venture Labs. At Moderna, he built and led teams responsible for autoimmune therapeutics discovery and early development from target validation through development candidate selection, and led multiple therapeutic programs through candidate selection and IND-enabling studies.
Before Moderna, Dr. Wipke served in scientific leadership roles at Biogen for nearly eight years, where he established translational in vivo capabilities for acute neurology and neuroimmunology programs and contributed to portfolio prioritization and business development assessments. Earlier in his career, he spent eight years at Elan Pharmaceuticals, directing and managing autoimmune pharmacology research and serving as pharmacology representative for Tysabri (natalizumab)'s nonclinical efforts.
"Brian's background is a strong fit for the needs of both Fannin and Allterum as we push forward programs that require deep translational rigor, decisive preclinical execution, and clear development strategy," said Dr. Atul Varadhachary, Managing Partner of Fannin. "He has built teams and advanced multiple modalities across complex immune and inflammatory indications, and his experience will be an asset as we continue to expand our pipeline."
"Brian has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to connect mechanism to therapeutic differentiation and drive cross-functional teams from discovery into IND-enabling work," said Dr. Yan Moore, CEO of Allterum Therapeutics. "We are excited to add his drug development expertise as we accelerate our development plans."
"I'm excited to join Fannin and Allterum at a time when disciplined development strategy and high-quality translational science can make a meaningful impact for patients," said Dr. Wipke. "Fannin's model of company creation and program advancement is unique, and I look forward to collaborating with the teams to drive rapid, data-driven progress across the portfolio."
Dr. Wipke earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Genetics from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis.
About Allterum Therapeutics
Allterum Therapeutics, Inc. is a Fannin-founded precision therapeutics company developing a best-in-class therapy targeting a validated cancer target. Allterum's lead candidate, 4A10, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD127 in-licensed from NCI, will shortly enter clinic for the treatment of patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and other cancers expressing CD127 (IL-7 receptor subunit alpha; IL-7Rα). 4A10 is also in development as a best-in-class antibody for auto-immune diseases. In addition to funding from Fannin investors, the development of 4A10 has been supported by grants of $14.6 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), $2.0 million in SBIR funding, and in-kind support valued at approximately $2.0 million from the NCI's "NExT" program. For more information, visit www.allterum.com.
About Fannin
Established in 2014, Houston-based Fannin is among the most active early-stage product development groups in the life sciences with a dozen programs/platforms at different stages of development. Fannin advances its pipeline both internally and through Fannin-founded entities with a combination of investor and grant funding. In the last decade, Fannin has brought in more than 35 programs, of which a dozen are active, including three in the clinic. Fannin has had approximately $260 million invested across our programs, with $75 million from grant funding and $185 million from investors. An additional critical element to our model is helping develop life sciences entrepreneurs locally through our talent development programs. For more information, visit www.FanninInnovation.com.
Media Contact
Serena Miggins, Fannin, 1 7139665844, [email protected], www.fannininnovation.com
SOURCE Fannin
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