Tacalyx Appoints Jean Engela as Chief Executive Officer to Spearhead Next Phase of Growth
Berlin, Germany, Dec. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tacalyx, a privately held biotech company focused on developing novel TACA (Tumour Associated Carbohydrate Antigens) cancer therapies, announces the appointment of Jean Engela as Chief Executive Officer. Jean Engela brings more than two decades of experience in drug research and development, with a proven track record of leading organisations and assets through key phase transitions and scaling from discovery to clinical stages. The company’s co-founder and former CEO, Dr. Peter Sondermann, will continue to drive scientific innovation at Tacalyx as Chief Scientific Officer.
“We are delighted to welcome Jean as our new Chief Executive Officer. Jean’s unique combination of global experience, biotech vision and leadership makes him ideally suited to lead our next stage of growth. We extend our sincere gratitude to our co-founder, Peter Sondermann, whose leadership has been instrumental in bringing Tacalyx to this stage of success. With Peter now being able to fully focus on advancing our R&D strategy, this leadership transition reflects our evolution into a biotech with the capabilities to scale both innovation and impact,” said Klaus Schollmeier, Chairman of the Board of Tacalyx.
Prior to joining Tacalyx, Jean served as CEO and Board Member of the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pioneering company NBE Therapeutics, where he led the company’s evolution from a start-up into a mature biotech with a diversified ADC pipeline. Before NBE Therapeutics, Jean Engela was Executive Drug Development Leader at Boehringer Ingelheim, where he oversaw global development of oncology and immunology programmes, including small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, multi-specific antibodies and T-cell engagers (TCEs). He also led the integration of NBE Therapeutics into Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D organisation. His extensive experience in guiding companies through the transition from research to clinical stage will be instrumental as Tacalyx prepares to enter its next phase of growth.
Jean Engela, CEO of Tacalyx, commented: “It is a great pleasure to lead Tacalyx as we gain momentum and advance toward becoming a clinical-stage biotech company. Tacalyx unites the essential ingredients for success - groundbreaking science, a dedicated management team, and strong investor support. In the coming months, we look forward to navigating key value inflection points as IND-enabling studies for our lead programme get underway, positioning us to make a meaningful impact for patients suffering from solid tumours”.
Under Jean’s leadership, Tacalyx will continue to build on its extensive knowledge and advance its programmes toward the clinic. Tacalyx is a pioneer in the development of targeted therapeutics that selectively bind tumour-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs), which are not found on differentiated, healthy tissue. Anti-TACA-antibodies can be developed into various treatment modalities, including ADCs, TCEs and multi-specifics. With its unique toolbox and deep expertise in glycan biology and chemistry, Tacalyx has generated a pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class assets that target different TACAs across multiple solid tumour indications. The most advanced compound, TCX-201, is in preclinical development and about to start IND-enabling studies.
About Tacalyx
Tacalyx is a privately held biotech company focused on the discovery and development of Tumour Associated Carbohydrate Antigen (TACA) antibodies to treat cancer. TACAs are formed during malignant transformation in a microevolutionary process. The expression of TACAs is elevated in many cancer cell types which makes them attractive potential targets for cancer treatment. Tacalyx is developing its proprietary technology platform to exploit TACAs as novel targets for antibody-based therapies, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other modalities, and has established a proprietary portfolio of programmes.
Tacalyx was founded in 2019 as a spin-out of the Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) in Potsdam, Germany, based on the work of Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger and Dr. Oren Moscovitz. Tacalyx is headquartered in Berlin, Germany and is backed by top-tier European life sciences investors Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Kurma Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), coparion, Eurazeo/Idinvest Partners, Creathor Ventures, and Thuja Capital.
For more information, please visit www.tacalyx.com
Contact:
Tacalyx GmbH
Magnusstr. 11
12489 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 407 237 10
Email: info@tacalyx.com
Media contact:
MC Services AG
Dr. Regina Lutz / Katja Arnold
Tel.: +49 (0)89 210 228 0
E-Mail: tacalyx@mc-services.eu