Pyxis Oncology has appointed Thomas Civik as chief executive officer and chairman of the board, the Boston based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company announced on 8 September 2026. The appointment took effect on 4 September 2026. Civik had been serving as interim chief executive officer since February 2026 and has sat on the company's board of directors since 2021.
In connection with the appointment, John Flavin, co-founder and founding chairman, transitions to lead independent director and continues to serve as a member of the board. The company said Flavin has provided leadership since its founding and played a role in its formation, growth and evolution into the clinical stage organisation it is today. The board presented the change as an orderly step in a transition that began when Civik took the interim role earlier in the year.
The mandate is defined by the company's lead programme. Pyxis Oncology said the leadership transition reflects a continued focus on advancing micvotabart pelidotin, known as MICVO, through key clinical milestones. Flavin said that over the past several months Civik has demonstrated the leadership, strategic focus and disciplined execution the board believes are needed as the company approaches key clinical milestones for MICVO. He added that during Civik's period as interim chief executive the company had continued to advance MICVO, strengthen its financial position and remain focused on generating the clinical evidence needed to evaluate the candidate's potential for patients.
Civik said he was honoured by the board's confidence and that the company's focus remains on generating the clinical evidence needed to evaluate the potential of MICVO to address unmet need in head and neck cancer. He said he looked forward to working alongside the team as the company continues to execute on its strategy.
Civik most recently served as chairman of ImCheck Therapeutics, which was acquired by Ipsen, and of Repare Therapeutics, which was acquired by Xoma. He served as president and chief executive officer of Five Prime Therapeutics until its acquisition by Amgen for 1.9 billion dollars in April 2021. Before that he was chief commercial officer at Foundation Medicine, and earlier held various roles over a 17 year career at Genentech, with responsibility for therapies including Avastin, Tecentriq, Alecensa and Tarceva. He holds a bachelor's degree from St. Norbert College and a master of business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Pyxis Oncology, listed on Nasdaq under the ticker PYXS, develops therapeutics for difficult to treat cancers. MICVO is an antibody drug conjugate that targets extradomain B of fibronectin, a non-cellular structural component of the tumour extracellular matrix. The company says the target is selectively overexpressed in the tumour microenvironment of a wide range of solid tumours and largely absent from normal adult tissues. MICVO is being evaluated as a monotherapy in a Phase 1 study in recurrent and metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and in combination with the anti-PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab from Merck in a Phase 1/2 study in the same disease and other solid tumours. The candidate has received Fast Track designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration for patients whose disease has progressed after platinum based chemotherapy and an anti-PD-L1 therapy.
The company expects to report updated data from the Phase 1 monotherapy study in second line and beyond patients in the autumn of 2026, including analysis of patients treated at or below dose cap covering safety, tolerability, efficacy and initial durability. Updated data from the combination study with pembrolizumab in first line patients is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Confirming an interim chief executive in the permanent role, and combining it with the chairmanship, gives the company continuity at the point where its lead asset reaches its most consequential readouts. For a clinical stage company built around a single principal programme, leadership questions and data questions tend to arrive together, and the board has settled the first ahead of the second. The parallel move of the founding chairman to lead independent director preserves an independent voice at board level while consolidating executive authority in one office.
