AnaptysBio Appoints Daniel Faga As Interim Chief Executive Officer
- Company to undergo a strategic portfolio review while continuing to execute on the development of its three wholly-owned clinical stage antibody programs
SAN DIEGO, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class antibody product candidates focused on emerging immune control mechanisms applicable to inflammation and immuno-oncology indications, today announced the appointment of Daniel Faga as interim president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately. Mr. Faga currently serves on the company's Board of Directors and will succeed Hamza Suria, who has stepped down from his role as president and CEO and as a board director. Mr. Suria will continue to support the Company in an advisory capacity.
"We are highly confident in Dan's leadership, who has extensive corporate strategy and public company experience in leading and advising world-class biopharmaceutical companies," said Jamie Topper, M.D., Ph. D., chairman of AnaptysBio's Board of Directors. "On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Hamza for his contributions to AnaptysBio, including over 10 years of service as our CEO, resulting in a strong scientifically-oriented and financially sound organization that is developing a wholly-owned multi-asset clinical portfolio directed towards inflammatory diseases."
AnaptysBio is continuing to advance the development of its three wholly-owned pipeline programs in the following indications:
- Imsidolimab (anti-IL-36R Ab) has demonstrated efficacy and safety in the GALLOP Phase 2 trial in generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) and enrollment of the GEMINI-1 GPP Phase 3 trial is ongoing. Top-line data from the imsidolimab HARP Phase 2 trial in moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa is anticipated during the second half of 2022
- Rosnilimab (PD-1 agonist Ab) enrollment of the AZURE Phase 2 trial in moderate-to-severe alopecia areata is ongoing
- ANB032 (BTLA modulator Ab) healthy volunteer Phase 1 top-line data is anticipated in the second quarter of 2022
"Looking ahead, I am confident in the future of imsidolimab and our pipeline of innovative antibody-based therapies and pleased to help lead AnaptysBio into this next chapter. We look forward to evaluating further clinical data across all three of our clinical stage programs throughout 2022," said Mr. Faga. "In parallel, our Board of Directors will undergo a strategic portfolio review. This will include defining the clinical path forward across a breadth of potential inflammation-focused indications that could be pursued for each of our clinical and preclinical therapeutic antibody programs as well as the optimal deployment of our approximately $615 million in cash as of the end 2021."
Mr. Faga has been a member of AnaptysBio's board of directors since December 2021. He is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of industry and advisory experience in the life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the chief operating officer at Mirati Therapeutics responsible for leading the company's strategy, corporate finance, legal and other business operations. Prior to Mirati, Dan was chief business officer at Spark Therapeutics until its acquisition by Roche. Previously, Dan was a managing director and founding member of Centerview Partner's healthcare advisory practice. Dan's earlier experience includes healthcare investment banking at Merrill Lynch and management consulting in the life sciences practice at PRTM. Dan has earned a B.S. in engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. in healthcare management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
About AnaptysBio
AnaptysBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class antibody product candidates focused on unmet medical needs in inflammation. The Company's proprietary anti-inflammatory pipeline includes imsidolimab, its anti-IL-36R antibody, previously referred to as ANB019, for the treatment of dermatological inflammatory diseases, including generalized pustular psoriasis, or GPP, and moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa; rosnilimab, its anti-PD-1 agonist program, previously referred to as ANB030, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe alopecia areata; and its BTLA modulator program, ANB032, which is broadly applicable to human inflammatory diseases associated with lymphoid and myeloid immune cell dysregulation. AnaptysBio's antibody pipeline has been developed using its proprietary somatic hypermutation, or SHM platform, which uses in vitro SHM for antibody discovery and is designed to replicate key features of the human immune system to overcome the limitations of competing antibody discovery technologies. AnaptysBio has also developed multiple therapeutic antibodies in an immuno-oncology collaboration with GSK, including an anti-PD-1 antagonist antibody (JEMPERLI (dostarlimab-gxly) GSK4057190), an anti-TIM-3 antagonist antibody (cobolimab, GSK4069889) and an anti-LAG-3 antagonist antibody (GSK4074386), and an inflammation collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb, including an anti-PD-1 checkpoint agonist antibody (CC-90006) currently in clinical development.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to: the timing of the release of data from our clinical trials, including imsidolimab's Phase 2 clinical trial in hidradenitis suppurativa and ANB032's healthy volunteer Phase 1 trial. Statements including words such as "plan," "continue," "expect," or "ongoing" and statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions, which, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the company's actual activities or results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement, including risks and uncertainties related to the company's ability to advance its product candidates, obtain regulatory approval of and ultimately commercialize its product candidates, the timing and results of preclinical and clinical trials, the company's ability to fund development activities and achieve development goals, the company's ability to protect intellectual property and other risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in documents the company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Contacts:
Dennis Mulroy
AnaptysBio, Inc.
858.732.0201
[email protected]