Gritstone bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology
company developing next generation cancer and infectious disease
immunotherapies, today announced changes to its Board of Directors.
Naiyer A. Rizvi, M.D., newly appointed chief medical officer at
Synthekine, a private biotechnology company, and until recently
Price Family Professor of Medicine, director of Thoracic Oncology
and co-director of Cancer Immunotherapy at Columbia University
Medical Center, and Shefali Agarwal, M.D., M.P.H., executive vice
president and chief medical and development officer at Epizyme,
Inc., have joined the Board. Simultaneously, Tom Woiwode, Ph.D.,
managing director at Versant Ventures, and Nicholas Simon, senior
managing director at Blackstone Life Sciences, have stepped down
from the Board.
“I am thrilled to welcome Naiyer and Shefali to
our Board of Directors,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D.,
co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Gritstone.
“Naiyer is a co-founder of Gritstone, member of our scientific
advisory board, and a medical oncologist renowned for his expertise
in immuno-oncology. Shefali is a physician who has spent over a
decade leading the clinical development of breakthrough medicines,
including PARP inhibitors (at Tesaro) and the only-in-class EZH2
inhibitor, tazemetostat, in her current role at Epizyme. She also
sits on the board at Fate Therapeutics and has a front-row seat in
the development of novel cell therapies for cancer. These additions
to our Board reflect our commitment to pursuing science-based,
operationally optimized programs to address unmet need with our
innovative technologies, therapeutics, and prophylactic
vaccines.”
Dr. Allen added, “Additionally, on behalf of the
entire company, I would like to sincerely thank Tom and Nick for
their years of dedication and service to the Board, starting in
2015 when they drove our Series A financing.”
Naiyer A. Rizvi, M.D.Dr. Naiyer
A. Rizvi is chief medical officer at Synthekine, a private,
engineered and synthetic cytokine therapeutics company. Until May
2021, he was the Price Family Professor of Medicine, Director of
Thoracic Oncology and Co-Director of Cancer Immunotherapy at
Columbia University Medical Center He received an M.D. at the
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and completed a
fellowship in medical oncology at Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard
Medical School. Dr. Rizvi was an attending physician in thoracic
oncology and early drug development at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center where his translational research focused on
immune-checkpoint blockade drug development. His research studies
were integral to the approval of immune-checkpoint blockade in lung
cancer, including approval of nivolumab in squamous lung cancer and
pembrolizumab in non-small cell lung cancer. He authored a
publication in Science of data from a landmark trial -- the first
study to demonstrate a statistically significant correlation
between mutations and neoantigens with durable benefit to
immune-checkpoint blockade. Dr. Rizvi is a co-founder of
Gritstone.
Shefali Agarwal, M.D.,
M.P.H.Dr. Shefali Agarwal is executive vice president and
chief medical and development officer at Epizyme, Inc., a
fully-integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing and delivering novel epigenetic therapies. Prior to
joining Epizyme in 2018, she held leadership positions across
medical research, clinical development, clinical operations and
medical affairs. Dr. Agarwal most recently served as chief medical
officer at SQZ Biotech, where she built and led the clinical
development organization, which included clinical research
operations and the regulatory function. Before SQZ Biotech, Dr.
Agarwal also held leadership positions at Curis and Tesaro. At
Curis, she oversaw the Phase 2 study for its dual HDAC/PI3K
inhibitor in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and the Phase 1 study
in solid tumors for its oral checkpoint inhibitor. At Tesaro, she
led the NDA and EMA submissions for ZEJULA® (niraparib) in ovarian
cancer. Dr. Agarwal has also held positions of increasing
responsibility at Covidien, AVEO Oncology and Pfizer.
In addition to receiving her medical degree, Dr.
Agarwal holds a master’s of public health and a master’s of science
in business. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Fate
Therapeutics.
About Gritstone Gritstone bio,
Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, is
developing the next generation of immunotherapies against multiple
cancer types and infectious diseases. Gritstone develops its
products by leveraging two key pillars—first, a proprietary machine
learning-based platform, Gritstone EDGETM, which is designed to
predict antigens that are presented on the surface of cells, such
as tumor or virally-infected cells, that can be seen by the immune
system; and, second, the ability to develop and manufacture potent
immunotherapies utilizing these antigens to potentially drive the
patient’s immune system to specifically attack and destroy
disease-causing cells. The company’s lead oncology programs include
an individualized neoantigen-based immunotherapy, GRANITE, and an
“off-the-shelf” shared neoantigen-based immunotherapy, SLATE, which
are being evaluated in clinical studies. Within its infectious
disease pipeline, Gritstone is advancing CORAL, a COVID-19 program
to develop a second-generation vaccine, with support from
departments within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as a license agreement
with La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Additionally, the company
has a global collaboration for the development of a therapeutic HIV
vaccine with Gilead Sciences. For more information, please visit
gritstonebio.com.
Gritstone Forward-Looking
StatementsThis press release contains
forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to,
statements related to the potential of Gritstone’s therapeutic
programs. Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks
and uncertainties that could cause Gritstone’s research and
clinical development programs, future results, performance or
achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and
uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in
the drug development process, including Gritstone’s programs’ early
stage of development, the process of designing and conducting
preclinical and clinical trials, the regulatory approval processes,
the timing of regulatory filings, the challenges associated with
manufacturing drug products, Gritstone’s ability to successfully
establish, protect and defend its intellectual property and other
matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund
operations. Gritstone undertakes no obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well
as risks relating to the business of the company in general, see
Gritstone’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May
6, 2021 and any current and periodic reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
ContactsMedia:Dan Budwick1AB(973)
271-6085dan@1abmedia.comInvestors:Alexandra Santos Wheelhouse Life
Science Advisors(510) 871-6161asantos@wheelhouselsa.com
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