SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.,
March 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutro
Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRO), a clinical-stage drug discovery,
development and manufacturing company focused on the application of
precise protein engineering and rational design to create
next-generation cancer and autoimmune therapeutics, today announced
the strengthening of key leadership roles including the promotion
of David Pauling, J.D., M.A., to
General Counsel, the promotion of Robert
Kiss, Ph.D., to Senior Vice President, Process and
Analytical Development, and the appointment of Ana Oaknin
Benzaquen, M.D., Ph.D., to Sutro's Clinical Advisory Board.
Promotion of David Pauling to
General Counsel
"Sutro's ability to develop multiple
programs and to collaborate with various industry partners is
reflective of the sound legal guidance that David has provided over
the past ten years," said Bill
Newell, Sutro's Chief Executive Officer. "David's astute
judgement and contribution, particularly on maintaining a strong IP
position on our proprietary and integrated cell-free protein
synthesis platform, XpressCF®, and on the programs from the
platform, have been invaluable to the growth of Sutro as an
integrated biopharma company. Sutro is committed to the highest
level of integrity and compliance and with David's continued legal
leadership, we will continue to work diligently on bringing
therapies for patients with unmet medical needs."
In his expanded role as Sutro's General Counsel, Mr. Pauling is
responsible for all aspects of legal operations, including
governance, compliance, disclosure, intellectual property, and
agreements. Mr. Pauling joined Sutro in 2011 and has since held
positions of increasing responsibility, including Intellectual
Property Counsel, Associate General and Senior Intellectual
Property Counsel, and most recently Executive Director of Legal
Affairs. Prior to joining Sutro, Mr. Pauling practiced law at Jones
Day and at Penne & Edmonds, LLP. Mr. Pauling received his J.D.
from Santa Clara University School of
Law (magna cum laude), and an M.A. in Molecular Biology and a B.S.
in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Promotion of Bob Kiss to SVP,
Process and Analytical Development
"Since joining Sutro,
Bob's leadership of the process development and analytical teams
has contributed to 4 successful IND filings for Sutro's and partner
products," said Shabbir Anik, Ph.D.,
Sutro's Chief Technical Operations Officer. "The development of
fit-to-purpose processes for the manufacture of GMP level
therapeutics at our industry-leading cell-free protein synthesis
facility in San Carlos, CA, is a
strategic advantage for our clinical programs and for our partners.
Bob's expertise and experience in biologics product development and
his rigorous scientific approach has allowed us to optimize the
advantages of our cell-free platform for protein production, and to
fulfill our commitment for rapid entry into the clinic for our own
product candidate pipeline of novel therapeutics as well as for
industry partners."
As part of this promotion, Dr. Kiss is wholly responsible for
the end-to-end industrialization of Sutro's proprietary and
integrated cell-free protein synthesis platform, XpressCF®,
encompassing process scalability, technology transfers to CMO's,
and CMC strategies to ensure successful global regulatory filings.
Dr. Kiss joined Sutro in 2017 as
Vice President of Process and Analytical Development, after working
at Genentech for nearly 24 years, where his last role was of
Distinguished Engineer and Senior Director of Late-Stage Cell
Culture process development. While at Genentech, he was directly
involved in the development and initial licensure of the cell
culture processes for Rituxan®, Herceptin®, Perjeta®, Tecentriq®,
and Ocrevus™, the design and startup of the Vacaville manufacturing sites, and the
transfer of multiple cell culture processes to Genentech/Roche and
partner sites around the world. Dr. Kiss received a B.S. in
chemical engineering from UC Davis and his M.S. and Ph.D. in
chemical engineering from The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow in the American
Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and was elected to
the National Academy of Engineering in 2019. He was named a
Distinguished Engineering Alumni by UC Davis in 2019 and is a
licensed engineer in the state of California.
Appointment of Ana Oaknin Benzaquen to Clinical Advisory
Board
"We are honored and delighted to appoint Ana to
Sutro's Clinical Advisory Board as her global clinical expertise
will bring a unique perspective to our group of accomplished and
diverse practitioners," said Arturo
Molina, M.D., Sutro's Chief Medical Officer. "Her breadth of
clinical trial expertise, specifically studying gynecological
tumors will provide valuable insight to advancing STRO-002 as we
expand our trial globally. Her authority and influence within the
industry including with major cancer organizations such as ASCO and
ESMO will be an asset to Sutro as we continue to develop therapies
for cancer patients."
Dr. Oaknin is the Head of the Gynecological Tumor Unit and
full-time Senior Attending Physician at Medical Oncology Department
at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, as well as the Principal Clinical
Investigator of the Gynecological Malignancies Group at the Vall
d'Hebrón Institute of Oncology. She also leads the Gynecological
Cancer program at the Baselga Institute of Oncology. Dr. Oaknin
received her Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Universidad
Complutense of Madrid and her
Ph.D. from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. She is the Principal Investigator
on several clinical trials in ovarian, cervical, and endometrial
cancer and has authored over 100 publications and presentations.
Dr. Oaknin is an executive board member and Co-Chair of the GEICO
Group (Spanish Ovarian Cancer Research Group) and an active member
of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European
Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the Spanish Association of
Medical Oncology (SEOM).
About Sutro Biopharma
Sutro Biopharma, Inc., located
in South San Francisco, is a
clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing
company. Using precise protein engineering and rational design,
Sutro is advancing next-generation oncology therapeutics.
Sutro's proprietary and integrated cell-free protein synthesis
platform XpressCF® and site-specific conjugation
platform XpressCF+™ led to the discovery of STRO-001 and STRO-002,
Sutro's first two internally-developed ADCs. STRO-001 is a
CD74-targeting ADC currently being investigated in a Phase 1
clinical trial of patients with advanced B-cell malignancies,
including multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. STRO-001 was
granted Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA for multiple myeloma in
October 2018. STRO-002 is a folate
receptor alpha (FolRα)-targeting ADC, currently being investigated
in a Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with ovarian and
endometrial cancers. A third product candidate, CC-99712
(BCMA-targeting ADC), which is part of Sutro's collaboration with
Bristol Myers Squibb (formerly Celgene Corporation), is enrolling
patients for its Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with multiple
myeloma and has received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for
multiple myeloma. A fourth product candidate, M1231, (MUC1-EGFR,
first-in-class bispecific ADC), which is part of Sutro's
collaboration with Merck KGaA, EMD Serono (EMD Serono) is enrolling
patients for its Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with metastatic
solid tumors, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and esophageal
squamous cell carcinoma. The four product candidates above being
evaluated in clinical trials resulted from Sutro's
XpressCF® and XpressCF+™ technology platforms.
Bristol Myers Squibb and EMD Serono
have worldwide development and commercialization rights for
CC-99712 and M1231, respectively, for which Sutro is entitled to
milestone or contingent payments and tiered royalties.
Sutro is dedicated to transforming the lives of cancer patients
by creating medicines with improved therapeutic profiles for areas
of unmet need. To date, Sutro's platform has led to cytokine-based
immuno-oncology therapies, ADCs, vaccines and bispecific antibodies
directed at precedented targets in clinical indications where the
current standard of care is suboptimal.
The platform allows it to accelerate discovery and development
of potential first-in-class and best-in-class molecules through
rapid and systematic evaluation of protein structure-activity
relationships to create optimized homogeneous product
candidates.
In addition to developing its own oncology pipeline, Sutro is
collaborating with select pharmaceutical and biotech companies to
discover and develop novel, next-generation therapeutics. As the
pace of clinical development accelerates, Sutro and its partners
are developing therapeutics designed to more efficiently kill
tumors without harming healthy cells.
Follow Sutro on Twitter, @Sutrobio, and
at www.sutrobio.com to learn more about our passion for
changing the future of oncology.
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, anticipated preclinical and
clinical development activities, timing of announcements of
clinical results, potential benefits of the company's product
candidates and platform and potential market opportunities for the
company's product candidates. All statements other than statements
of historical fact are statements that could be deemed
forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are
reasonable, the company cannot guarantee future events, results,
actions, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and the
timing and results of biotechnology development and potential
regulatory approval is inherently uncertain. 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, the receipt and timing of potential
regulatory designations, approvals and commercialization of product
candidates, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's
business, clinical trial sites, supply chain and manufacturing
facilities, the Company's ability to maintain and recognize the
benefits of certain designations received by 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, the value of the Company's holdings of Vaxcyte common
stock, and the Company's commercial collaborations with third
parties 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.
Investor Contacts
Annie J.
Chang
Sutro Biopharma
(650) 801-5728
ajchang@sutrobio.com
Media Contacts
Maggie
Beller
Russo Partners
(646) 942-5631
Maggie.beller@russopartnersllc.com
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sutro-biopharma-strengthens-leadership-through-management-promotions-and-expansion-of-clinical-advisory-board-301252643.html
SOURCE Sutro Biopharma