William V. Williams, M.D., F.A.C.P. President and CEO, BriaCell Therapeutics Corp.
Dr. William V. Williams, M.D., F.A.C.P., is President and CEO of BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (Nasdaq: BCTX, BCTXL; TSX: BCT), a Philadelphia-based biotechnology company developing personalized, off-the-shelf cellular immunotherapies for cancer. A graduate of MIT and Tufts Medical, board-certified in immunology and rheumatology, Williams built his drug development career on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and later at SmithKline Beecham/GlaxoSmithKline and Incyte Corporation, where he advanced numerous molecules into the clinic and helped secure approvals across cancer, autoimmune disease, and other therapeutic areas. He joined BriaCell in 2016 to help move its early clinical signal toward a full pipeline, and under his leadership the company's lead candidate, Bria-IMT, has advanced into a pivotal Phase 3 study in advanced metastatic breast cancer.
In this Q&A, Williams traces BriaCell's improbable origin — including a stretch when its founding cell line sat frozen in a garage — through to today's late-stage clinical program. He explains the science behind the company's Bria-OTS and Bria-OTS+ platforms, which activate both the adaptive and innate immune systems, discusses the culture and team driving the company's progress, and shares his outlook on where BriaCell is headed and what he'd change about drug development along the way.
October 19, 2026
Your Story
Q1. How did BriaCell come about — from your scientific founder's early work to where the company is today?
Our scientific founder, Dr. Charles Wiseman, trained at MD Anderson Cancer Center and was working at a Los Angeles hospital developing cancer cell lines to immunize patients against their own cancer type. Working with Alex Kharazi, he developed Bria-IMT and treated the first few patients, including one remarkable responder in 2005-2006. When his funding dried up, he froze the cells in liquid nitrogen and stored them in his garage until 2014, when he connected with a shell company to complete a reverse takeover and move Bria-IMT into GMP production. I joined in 2016, and we began clinical studies in 2017 with striking early results, including one patient's 20 lung metastases from breast cancer either disappeared or shrank to tiny scars. We advanced into a combination study with an immune checkpoint inhibitor in 2019, and though COVID nearly ended us financially, we listed on NASDAQ in 2021 and secured the funding that has carried us to where we are today. It's been a harrowing journey, with the company nearly disappearing more than once, but we've persevered and continue developing novel therapies.
Q2. In the simplest terms, what does BriaCell do, and why does it matter for patients?
We develop targeted cellular immunotherapies for cancer — essentially therapeutic cancer vaccines. Our lead candidate has shown positive early data in advanced metastatic breast cancer, and we're now in a pivotal Phase 3 study. Early results suggest our therapy can extend life in late-stage patients with a well-tolerated side-effect profile, which matters enormously for patients who have already been through multiple prior therapies and want more time without sacrificing quality of life. We've also built a platform technology from these observations: we genetically modify cancer cells to become the immune cells that trigger a response, and personalize this by introducing different HLA molecules. This versatile, off-the-shelf, personalized approach has the potential to change how cancer is treated.
The Science & The Strategy
Q3. What is it about your platform that sets BriaCell apart from others in this space?
We use cellular immunotherapy, an approach that's still unconventional in a field dominated by traditional modalities. We genetically modify cells to make them more potent stimulators of the immune system, and the therapy, which has proven extremely well tolerated, is administered through simple intradermal inoculations that can be done in a physician's office, and potentially even at home. The main side effect is local irritation at the injection site that resolves within days. It's also off-the-shelf, requiring no personalized manufacturing. Our Bria-OTS platform is unique in personalizing immunotherapy while keeping that off-the-shelf advantage, and our Bria-OTS+ platform extends this to additional cancers while boosting potency with added cytokines and costimulatory molecules. We've shown this platform stimulates both the adaptive and innate arms of the immune system, whereas most competing technologies focus on adaptive immunity alone.
Q4. What has been your most important milestone to date, and what's next?
Our most important milestone has been positive Phase 2 data in advanced breast cancer with Bria-IMT, showing roughly double the overall survival of comparable patients in the literature, with an extremely well-tolerated side-effect profile. That result propelled us into our ongoing pivotal Phase 3 study, with a first interim analysis projected later this year. The next major milestone is clinical data from Bria-OTS+, our platform that personalizes immunotherapy while keeping it off-the-shelf and enhances potency through genetic engineering. We have open INDs for the breast and prostate cancer versions — Bria-BRES+ and Bria-PROS+ — and are advancing our lung cancer (Bria-LUNG+) and melanoma (Bria-MEL+) candidates through genetic engineering.
Q5. Can you explain how your personalized, off-the-shelf cellular cancer vaccine works?
The immune system has two arms: adaptive and innate. In the adaptive response, T cells recognize antigens bound to HLA molecules, which vary between people much like eye or hair color. In our early studies, patients whose HLA type matched our cell line were more likely to respond, since the cancer antigens on our cell line would match those on the patient's own cancer, allowing the T cells we activate to attack it specifically. That insight led to our platform: we genetically modify the HLA molecules in our cell line so we can match over 99% of patients, and we add costimulatory molecules and cytokines that turn these cells into artificial antigen-presenting cells capable of activating naive T cells. That covers the adaptive response. The innate response relies on natural killer cells, which target abnormal cells, including cancers that have mutated away their HLA molecules to evade the adaptive immune system. We've found our therapy activates natural killer cells as well, so it engages both arms of the immune system and limits the cancer's ability to escape by mutating its HLA.
Leadership & Ecosystem
Q6. How would you describe the culture you're building at BriaCell, and why does it matter for the science?
I try to encourage innovation and collaboration while keeping the focus on what matters most: our patients. Our discovery group, led by CSO Miguel Lopez-Lago, has developed novel assays to evaluate our candidates and made basic science discoveries along the way, while also building a GLP laboratory for drug product release testing — all starting from a team of three that's grown to ten. Our development group, led by Giuseppe Del Priore, has managed our Phase 3 study end to end, from site monitoring and data analysis to safety evaluation, working closely with our manufacturing, QA, and regulatory teams to open studies across multiple countries and establish collaborations with leading investigators at institutions including Mayo Clinic, the University of Pennsylvania, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Yale University. Their work helped get our Phase 3 study named one of the 11 clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2026 by Nature Medicine, and the same team opened two INDs for an entirely new platform technology within months of each other.
Q7. What role does Philadelphia's life sciences ecosystem play in BriaCell's growth?
Philadelphia has become the cell therapy capital — CAR-T therapy was developed at the University of Pennsylvania, and the region has grown into a hub for cellular technology companies. It's also one of the most prominent areas for pharmaceutical development, with many major pharmaceutical companies located here or within close driving distance, alongside academic centers like the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, Drexel University, Temple University, Villanova University, and Saint Joseph's University. It's a strong environment for talent, collaboration, and interaction with other companies developing novel therapeutics.
Q8. What has surprised you most about being a CEO in life sciences?
In the 1980s and '90s, while on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, I watched a lot of people start biotech companies without really knowing how to develop drugs. I chose a different path, leaving academia for GlaxoSmithKline and then Incyte, where I gained deep experience across the full arc of drug development, from first-in-human through post-approval. So, the science and development side of this job came naturally. What I didn't have as much exposure to was the business side, though I'm fortunate to be backed by an excellent CFO, Gadi Levin, and a board that has contributed enormously to BriaCell's success. I didn't expect how much time investor engagement would take, but it's something I've come to enjoy, since I love talking about our technology.
Looking Ahead
Q9. Where do you see BriaCell in three years, and what has to go right to get there?
In three years, we expect to have our lead candidate on the market for advanced breast cancer, generating revenue to fund our expanding pipeline. Not far behind, we should have our next-generation platform through proof of concept and into pivotal studies for both breast and prostate cancer, with lung cancer and melanoma to follow, alongside further progress across our broader pipeline of cellular immunotherapies. Getting there means executing on our clinical and preclinical programs and on fundraising. As our data matures, we'll focus on establishing collaborations with larger companies and securing non-dilutive funding to advance the pipeline.
Q10. What's one thing about the life sciences industry you'd change, and what gives you optimism despite it?
This is an extraordinarily exciting time in life sciences — new advances are arriving faster than our ability to evaluate them, especially in the clinic. What's frustrating is how long it takes to move something from initial concept through preclinical and clinical evaluation to approval, though much of that time is necessary. If I could change one thing, it would be how we design and analyze clinical studies. Given today's technologies, we should be able to identify patients and prognosticate their individual cases far more precisely, which would let us measure a novel therapy's impact on each patient more accurately and reduce the number of patients needed to establish proof of concept. What gives me optimism is the tremendous potential of these emerging technologies and our growing understanding of how to use them to treat patients and improve their lives.
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