John Timmer is a Partner at Origin CV, where he leads the development of a novel, tumor-restricted drug delivery platform based on engineered anaerobic spore-forming bacteria. His work focuses on creating highly selective cancer immunotherapies designed for activity only within the tumor microenvironment, with the goal of improving efficacy while minimizing toxicity.
Dr. Timmer brings more than a decade of experience in therapeutic discovery and development, particularly in immuno-oncology and engineered biologics. Previously, he was the first employee at Inhibrx, where he advanced to Vice President of Research and Protein Engineering and served as a key scientific leader across multiple programs. During his tenure, he was a primary contributor to five therapeutic candidates that entered clinical trials, including first-in-class antibody and multivalent immune agonist programs. He also led development efforts on INBRX-101, a biologic for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency that played a central role in Sanofi’s 2024 acquisition of Inhibrx.
Dr. Timmer earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology and Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he developed N-terminomics, a proteomics approach for mapping protease signaling in complex biological systems. He is an inventor on numerous patents and an author on peer-reviewed publications spanning protease biology, antibody engineering, and immune modulation.
His work is informed by both professional expertise and personal experience as the parent of a childhood cancer survivor. This perspective drives his commitment to developing cancer therapies that are not only more effective, but also safer, more tolerable, and accessible to patients beyond highly specialized clinical settings.