Allogene Therapeutics Announces Benjamin M. Beneski as Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic CAR T (AlloCAR T^™) products for cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced that Benjamin M. Beneski has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Mr. Beneski succeeds Tim Moore, who will be stepping down at the end of February after two years with the Company. Mr. Moore's impactful career spans nearly a decade of collaboration with the broader team, during which he made significant contributions to Allogene and the field of cell and gene therapy.

As CTO, Mr. Beneski will oversee Allogene's technical operations, leveraging his extensive expertise in biologics manufacturing, process development, and operational leadership to carry on the work of Mr. Moore and further advance the company's groundbreaking allogeneic cell therapy programs.

"We are delighted to announce Ben's promotion to Chief Technical Officer," said David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., President, CEO, and Co-Founder of Allogene. "His leadership and dedication have been instrumental in shaping our manufacturing strategy and capabilities. Ben's proven track record of delivering results, creating innovative solutions, and building high-performing teams makes him uniquely qualified to lead our technical operations into the next phase."

Dr. Chang continued, "Many of us at Allogene have had the distinct privilege of working alongside Tim for nearly a decade. He joined us during a crucial time, bringing expertise and leadership that were instrumental in getting us to where we are today. We are deeply grateful for Tim's unwavering commitment, transformative contributions, and exceptional dedication to mentoring and empowering the next generation of leaders. Tim will forever remain a dear friend and an enduring part of Allogene's legacy."

Mr. Beneski joined Allogene in 2019 as Executive Director and Plant Manager, leading the design, construction, and startup of Cell Forge 1, the company's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Over the years, he has held increasingly senior roles, including Vice President of Manufacturing and Vice President of Product Development and Manufacturing. In these roles, he led the development of next-generation platforms, successfully managed internal and external manufacturing networks, and drove key initiatives supporting IND submissions and commercial readiness.

Mr. Beneski's career spans over two decades in biologics manufacturing and technical operations, including leadership roles at Vir Biotechnology and Amgen. He holds a Master's in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

About Allogene Therapeutics

Allogene Therapeutics, with headquarters in South San Francisco, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR T^™) products for cancer and autoimmune disease. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of "off-the-shelf" CAR T cell product candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. For more information, please visit www.allogene.com, and follow @AllogeneTx on X and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements for Allogene

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "will," "advance," "goal," or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the ability to develop allogeneic CAR T products for treating cancer and autoimmune disease, the ability to advance allogeneic cell therapy programs or develop next generation platforms, or the ability to develop a pipeline of "off-the-shelf" CAR T cell product candidates that deliver readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. Various factors may cause material differences between Allogene's expectations and actual results, including, risks and uncertainties related to: our product candidates are based on novel technologies, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of product candidate development and whether we will ultimately obtain regulatory approval. These and other risks are discussed in greater detail in Allogene's filings with the SEC, including without limitation under the "Risk Factors" heading in its Form 10-Q filed for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Allogene assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

AlloCAR T^™ is a trademark of Allogene Therapeutics, Inc.

Allogene Media/Investor Contact:

Christine Cassiano

EVP, Chief Corporate Affairs & Brand Strategy Officer

[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be965d76-f1a3-4452-bb4d-9ba99d7b1962