Diwakar Davar

Summary

Dr. Davar is a translational medical oncologist with a clinical focus on cutaneous malignancies and a robust background in immuno-oncologic drug development. Dr. Davar's expertise spans from strategic planning to execution across a variety of therapeutic modalities, including pioneering work in microbiome therapeutics. Dr. Davar brings a deep understanding of preclinical models, biomarkers, clinical trial design, and regulatory processes, with extensive experience in leading interactions with the FDA for products at various stages of development. Driven by a passion to improve outcomes for cancer patients, Dr. Davar's clinical and translational efforts focus on:

1. Investigating the intestinal microbiome's role in mediating response/resistance to PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade.

2. Exploring the synergy of TLR9 agonism with PD-1 blockade.

3. Evaluating novel immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as TIM-3 and TIGIT, in cancer.

Dr. Davar's innovative clinical trial designs have generated key findings, including:

- Demonstrating the efficacy of type A TLR9 agonist vidutolimod combined with anti-PD-1 therapy in resectable melanoma, identifying biomarkers of TLR9 agonism, and uncovering gut microbiome signatures as treatment-dependent cancer biomarkers.

- Revealing the potential of responder-FMT to reverse anti-PD-1 resistance in melanoma, with response linked to microbiota engraftment and enhanced immune responses.

- Identifying gut microbiome signatures predictive of response and immune-related adverse events in immune checkpoint inhibitor-treated melanoma patients.