Director​/Senior Director, Protein Sciences

Kalaris Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of treatments for prevalent retinal diseases with major unmet medical needs.

Kalaris’ lead asset, TH103, was developed by Lasker Award winner, Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, a pioneer in the field of VEGF research, and the inventor of Lucentis and Avastin during his time 03 is a novel, clinical stage anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug, specifically engineered to achieve extended intraocular retention with enhanced VEGF inhibition in patients with exudative and/or neovascular retinal diseases.

In head-to-head preclinical studies, TH103 showed more anti-VEGF activity and longer duration of activity compared to aflibercept, the current market-leading anti-VEGF agent. In a Phase 1a single ascending dose trial, TH103 was generally well tolerated and showed a potent anti-VEGF effect on functional and anatomical outcomes at 1-month post-dosing. Single dose durability signals, including pharmacokinetic analysis and retreatment results, suggest that TH103 may offer extended treatment durability outcomes after a standard four-dose loading regimen.

Kalaris is currently enrolling a Phase 1b/2 Multiple Ascending Dose trial of TH103 in patients with nAMD, to help assess the safety and efficacy of repeat TH103 administration and to inform dose selection for potential Phase 3 development.

Kalaris’ board of directors, management team and investors include co-founders, scientists and leaders and investors from companies that have played pivotal roles in developing retina therapeutics.

nAMD is a leading cause of blindness in the United States and Europe that affected an estimated 1.6 million adults in the United States in 2024. Over the past 20 years, anti-VEGF therapeutics have revolutionized the treatment of prevalent exudative and/or neovascular retinal diseases, which represented an estimated $15 billion global branded market in 2024. While clinical trials for these drugs have shown improvements in mean visual acuity, these results often are not reproduced in real-world settings.

Many patients find the treatment burden to be challenging because it requires a demanding schedule of clinic visits and years of monitoring and treatments. This onerous treatment burden can lead to a lack of adherence to the frequent visit regimen and a decline in vision after initial gains.

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Kalaris is seeking an Director/Senior Director, Protein Sciences
. The successful candidate will possess a measurable track record of success in applying protein engineering principles to design, express, and purify proteins for non-clinical study.

This is an exciting opportunity within the analytical and formulation group within CMC to directly oversee the research production, characterization, in-silico analysis, formulation, and in-vivo non-clinical evaluation of proteins of interest. Further, the successful candidate will design non-clinical/pre-clinical studies and manage interactions with external contract research partner organizations (CROs). Additionally, the candidate will manage study execution, guide data analysis and interpretation, and synthesize iterative experimentation with line of sight to enabling intellectual property protection, and IND-enablement opportunities.

Immediate responsibilities include:

• Proposing and leading research initiatives to optimize, design, and/or produce proteins of interest.
• Collaborating to design and advance the production of functional biological proteins of interest for pre-clinical/non-clinical study.
• Developing necessary non-clinical models to develop and establish confidence in protein function and non-clinical PK/PD.
• Developing fit for purpose formulations for non-clinical use and collaborating with formulation development teams to identify and advance stable clinical formulations for vial and pre-filled syringe.
• Developing and overseeing execution of in vitro/cell based assays to assess drug response including PK/PD.

• PhD or Equivalent in Analytical Protein Chemistry, Protein Engineering,…