Centessa Pharmaceuticals Announces Addition of Patrick Yue, MD, as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development, Innovative Medicines

BOSTON and LONDON, March 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that aims to discover and develop medicines that are transformational for patients, today announced the appointment of Patrick Yue, MD, to Centessa's management team as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development, Innovative Medicines.

"This is an exciting time for Centessa as we are focused on the next set of clinical milestones, including executing the pivotal program for our lead product candidate, SerpinPC for hemophilia, initiating the Phase 1/2a clinical studies for LB101, our first LockBody^® candidate for solid tumors, and progressing MGX292 for PAH and our orexin agonist for narcolepsy," said Saurabh Saha MD PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Centessa. "Patrick is a physician-scientist who brings extensive clinical development experience to this newly created position at Centessa. He will complement the outstanding team we already have in place as we continue to advance a pipeline of medicines with the potential to improve the lives of patients with unmet medical needs."

"I am thrilled to join Centessa and lead clinical development for innovative medicines alongside a team of extraordinary drug developers," said Dr. Yue. "I look forward to contributing as the Company advances SerpinPC into late-stage clinical development and progresses a compelling pipeline for the benefit of patients."

In this newly created role, Dr. Yue will primarily focus on select pipeline programs, including SerpinPC, MGX292 and orexin agonists.

Prior to joining Centessa, Dr. Yue was Vice President of Clinical Science at Global Blood Therapeutics, where he oversaw four development programs, including voxelotor (Oxbryta) a treatment for sickle cell disease. Dr. Yue has spent 12 years in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry, taking on roles of increasing responsibility at Gilead, Portola, Alexion and Pfizer. Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Yue completed his medical internship and residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and received specialty training in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Yue holds a BS in Biology and Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an MD from the Washington University School of Medicine.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that aims to discover and develop medicines that are transformational for patients. Our programs span discovery-stage to late-stage development and cover a range of high-value indications. We operate with the conviction that each one of our programs has the potential to change the current treatment paradigm and establish a new standard of care. For more information, visit http://www.centessa.com/, which does not form part of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "may," "might," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "objective," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," "aim," "seek," and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including statements related to the Company's ability to discover and develop transformational medicines for patients; the timing of commencement of new studies or clinical trials of SerpinPC, LB101, the LockBody technology and other potential LockBody candidates, MGX292 and orexin agonists; research and clinical development plans and the timing thereof; the Company's ability to differentiate SerpinPC, LB101, the LockBody technology and/or other potential LockBody candidates, MGX292 and orexin agonists from other treatment options; the development and therapeutic potential of SerpinPC, LB101, the LockBody technology and other potential LockBody candidates, MGX292 and orexin agonists; and regulatory matters, including the timing and likelihood of success of obtaining authorizations to initiate or continue clinical trials. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the safety and tolerability profile of our product candidates; our ability to protect and maintain our intellectual property position; business (including commercial viability), regulatory, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties, contingencies and assumptions about the Company; risks inherent in developing product candidates and technologies; future results from our ongoing and planned clinical trials; our ability to obtain adequate financing, including through our financing facility with Oberland, to fund our planned clinical trials and other expenses; trends in the industry; the legal and regulatory framework for the industry, including the receipt and maintenance of clearances to conduct or continue clinical testing; future expenditures risks related to our asset-centric corporate model; the risk that any one or more of our product candidates will not be successfully developed and/or commercialized; the risk that the results of preclinical studies or clinical studies will not be predictive of future results in connection with future studies; geo-political risks such as the Russia-Ukraine war and risks related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic including the effects of the Delta, Omicron and any other variants. These and other risks concerning our programs and operations are described in additional detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our other reports, which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We explicitly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

Contact:

Kristen K. Sheppard, Esq.

SVP of Investor Relations

[email protected]