MARLBOROUGH, Mass.,
Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Phio
Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: PHIO) today announced that Gerrit
Dispersyn, Dr. Med. Sc., currently President and COO, has been
appointed by the Board of Directors as the Company's new CEO,
effective March 1. He will succeed
Geert Cauwenbergh, Dr. Med. Sc., who
will retire as CEO of the Company. Dr. Cauwenbergh will be
available to support the transition and will remain as a member of
the Board of Directors.
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Dr. Cauwenbergh was elected President and CEO of Phio
Pharmaceuticals when the business was spun-off from its parent
company, then known as Galena Biopharma, Inc., in April 2012. He was also elected to serve as a
member of the Board of Directors. During his tenure, he has helped
guide Phio Pharmaceuticals from a platform company with products in
dermatology and ophthalmology to a company developing
groundbreaking immuno-oncology therapeutics.
Robert Bitterman, Chairman of the
Board, said, "We are very grateful for Dr. Cauwenbergh's past
leadership, energy and vision and we are pleased he will remain a
member of the Board of Directors to continue to offer guidance
based on his extensive experience in the health care sector."
Prior to his current role, Dr. Dispersyn was elected Chief
Development Officer of the Company in April
2017. Over the past two years, Dr. Dispersyn has provided
exemplary leadership to the research and development team at Phio
Pharmaceuticals. He has been a catalyst in Phio Pharmaceuticals'
transformation into an immuno-oncology therapeutics company and has
been instrumental in finalizing the clinical work in its
dermatology and ophthalmology programs, with the closure and
report-out of various successful clinical studies.
Dr. Cauwenbergh commented, "I am very happy that Dr. Dispersyn
has accepted this new responsibility as CEO of Phio
Pharmaceuticals. Since joining the Company, Gerrit has demonstrated
leadership, team-building capability and an ability to relate to
our shareholders and the rest of our Board. As a continuing member
of the Board of Directors, I look forward to working with Dr.
Dispersyn to help him build our Company into one of the leaders in
immuno-oncology. Our recent financing provides cash into the third
quarter of 2020 and creates a stable foundation for Dr. Dispersyn
to carry out Phio's mission."
Dr. Dispersyn said, "I'm extremely excited and feel privileged
to be appointed the next CEO of Phio Pharmaceuticals. I want to
thank the Board of Directors for their vote of confidence in
appointing me to this role. I look forward to advancing Dr.
Cauwenbergh's vision to develop a very promising next generation of
immuno-oncology therapeutics based on our self-delivering RNAi
platform."
About Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: PHIO) is a
biotechnology company developing the next generation of
immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its self-delivering RNAi
(sd-rxRNA®) therapeutic platform. The Company's discovery and
research efforts are focused on developing sd-rxRNA therapeutic
compounds to be used in the context of adoptive cell transfer by
targeting checkpoints or other gene targets, or to be used in
immunotherapy following intratumoral injection. We aim to maximize
the power of our sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds by weaponizing
therapeutic immune effector cells to attack cancer, and to make
tumors more susceptible to such attacks, and ultimately provide
patients battling cancers with a powerful new treatment option that
goes beyond current treatment modalities. For additional
information, visit the Company's
website, www.phiopharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor
assurances of future performance. These statements are based only
on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the
future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections,
anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future
conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the
future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and
changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of
which are outside of our control. Our actual results may
differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking
statements as a result of a number of important factors, including,
but not limited to, the safety and efficacy of our product
candidates, future success of our clinical trials and scientific
studies, expected duration of available cash runway, our ability to
enter into strategic partnerships and the future success of these
strategic partnerships, the availability of funds and resources to
pursue our research and development projects and general economic
conditions. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q include detailed risks under the
caption "Risk Factors" that may affect our business, results of
operations and financial condition. Readers are urged to review
these risk factors and to not act in reliance on any
forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ from those
contemplated by our forward-looking statements. Phio does not
undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect a change
in its views, events or circumstances that occur after the date of
this release.
Contact
Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp.
ir@phiopharma.com
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SOURCE Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp.