Kawa Chiu of Abdera Therapeutics — Advances in Targeted Radiotherapeutics

At the most recent edition of the Biomanufacturing World Summit series we sat down with Kawa Chiu of Abdera Therapeutics to talk about advances in targeted radiotherapeutics and some of the supply chain implications of recent developments. Radiotherapeutics differs from traditional radiation therapy in that an antibody or small molecule delivers radiation internally to the cancer cells, sparing healthy tissue that might be damaged by externally applied radiation. A lot of great progress is being made in the sophistication and efficacy of this form of treatment —especially through a biologics approach— but it does come with challenges on sourcing and delivering treatments that are dangerous to handle without special care, and whose shelf-live is measured in half-lives. For a fascinating look at one of the forefronts of medicine, give this episode a listen!   --   Kawa Chiu Chief Technical Officer Abdera Therapeutics Kawa Chiu is the Chief Technical Officer at Abdera Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company leveraging antibody engineering to design and develop next-generation precision radiopharmaceuticals for cancer.  Kawa joined Abdera in 2022 and built out Technical Operations organization and CMC capabilities.  During her tenure, Kawa and her team developed Abdera’s lead program, ABD-147, a targeted radiopharmaceutical biologic therapy designed to deliver Actinium-225 (225Ac) to solid tumors expressing delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) with high affinity.  The FDA cleared the IND for the treatment of SCLC and LCNEC in May 2024 and recognized the potential of ABD-147 to become a transformative treatment option in areas of high unmet medical need by granting fast track designation in extensive-stage SCLC in June 2024, and an orphan drug designation for the treatment of neuroendocrine carcinoma in August 2024.  Prior to Abdera, Kawa served as the vice president of CMC supply chain at Lyell Immunopharma, a cell therapy company focused on solid tumors.  At Lyell, Kawa oversaw CMC programs that enabled three IND approvals, established the company’s autologous patient supply chain, and implemented a progressive cloud based, integrated manufacturing systems.  Prior to Lyell, Kawa spent 14 years at Genentech in South San Francisco and at Roche in Basel, Switzerland in roles including head of Oceanside drug substance manufacturing, global head of technical operation strategy, global head of biologics operational excellence and global head of supply planning.  Kawa started her career and held a number of manufacturing positions at Merck & Co., Inc.  Kawa holds a B.S. in operations from The Ohio State University, a M.Sc. in Engineering from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from New York University, and a Master in Public Health from U.C. Berkeley.