Veteran immunologist joins company as it advances lead program in Type 1 diabetes toward the clinic

Zag Bio™, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering thymus-targeted medicines, today announced the appointment of Jan Hillson, M.D., a physician-scientist and rheumatologist with over 20 years of clinical development experience in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases across early and late stages, as Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Hillson will oversee Zag’s clinical development strategy and execution and guide pipeline advancement. She will lead Zag’s clinical team as the company prepares to advance its lead program, ZAG-101 for Type 1 diabetes, into the clinic, with a first-in-human study anticipated in late 2026.

“Jan joins Zag at a pivotal moment as we transition from research into clinical development,” said Jason Cole, Chief Executive Officer of Zag Bio. “She brings extensive expertise in immunology and rheumatology, along with firsthand experience advancing disease-modifying therapies for Type 1 diabetes. Jan’s deep understanding of autoimmune disease biology will be critical as we prepare ZAG-101 for the clinic and build a broader pipeline of thymus-targeted therapies.”

“Zag is advancing a fundamentally different approach to treating autoimmune disease by targeting the thymus to restore immune tolerance,” said Dr. Hillson. “This strategy has the potential to address the underlying drivers of autoimmunity rather than simply managing the metabolic outcomes for Type 1 diabetes, a disease with significant unmet need where durable disease-modifying treatments remain limited. I’m excited to join the team as Zag moves toward the clinic and works to build a pipeline designed to retrain the immune system and change the course of autoimmune disease.”

Dr. Hillson previously served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Provention Bio, a Sanofi Company, where she helped lead the clinical development of teplizumab for Type 1 diabetes and oversaw clinical projects in other autoimmune diseases. She has held senior leadership roles at Climb Bio, GlycoEra, Alpine Immune Sciences, ChemoCentryx, and Momenta Pharmaceuticals, and earlier served in senior roles at ZymoGenetics/Bristol Myers Squibb and Xcyte Therapies.

Before entering the biotechnology industry, Dr. Hillson was a member of the clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School (Cambridge Health Alliance), Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, and Division Head at Virginia Mason Medical Center. She received her M.D. from the Stanford School of Medicine, an M.S. in environmental engineering from the California Institute of Technology, an M.S. in marine chemistry from Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and a B.S. from Michigan State University. She completed her training in immunology and rheumatology at the University of Washington.

About Zag Bio

Zag Bio™ has discovered a novel approach to create thymus-targeted medicines to treat and prevent autoimmune diseases by restoring central immune tolerance. Zag Bio designs bifunctional antibodies that deliver self-antigens to antigen-presenting cells in the thymus to harness the body’s natural process for training immune cells to recognize and tolerate self, halting or preventing autoimmune attacks on the body’s own tissues. Zag Bio’s pipeline includes ZAG-101, its lead program for Type 1 diabetes, as well as discovery programs for thymus-targeted therapies to address other autoimmune diseases and help patients and their caregivers. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Zag Bio’s team includes experienced experts in thymus biology, autoimmune diseases and innovative drug development. Zag Bio is supported by a broad syndicate of investors, including Polaris Partners, Mission BioCapital, AbbVie Ventures, the T1D Fund, Lightspeed Ventures, Sanofi Ventures, KdT Ventures, Regeneron Ventures, Boxer Capital, Pear VC, Codon Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments and Gaingels. For more information, visit www.zagbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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