Apexigen Expands Leadership Team with Two Key Appointments in CMC and Clinical Development

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Dec. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Apexigen, Inc. announced today the appointments of Jason Wright, Ph.D., as Vice President, CMC and Thomas Jahn, M.D., Ph.D., as Vice President, Clinical Development.  Dr. Wright joins Apexigen with extensive experience in pharmaceutical development of biologics.  Dr. Jahn brings to Apexigen expertise in all phases of clinical drug development, particularly in oncology.

"We are pleased to welcome Jason and Thomas to our growing Apexigen team.  Their contributions will enable Apexigen to advance APX005M into late-stage clinical development while continuing to evaluate APX005M in multiple solid tumor indications and also advancing new pipeline programs into the clinic," said Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., Apexigen's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "Jason brings strong expertise in all facets of CMC activities, and Thomas' expertise and experience will allow us to expand our APX005M development program, with 11 clinical trials ongoing or anticipated to start in 2020."

Dr. Wright previously held the position of Vice President of Manufacturing at Proclara Biosciences, where he was responsible for all CMC activities. Prior to Proclara, he served as Head of CMC for Cambridge Antibody Technology (a subsidiary of AstraZeneca) and served as CMC project team lead for multiple development programs at Rinat Neuroscience Corporation.

"I'm very pleased to be joining Apexigen at this exciting time," said Dr. Wright.  "I look forward to leading CMC as APX005M moves into registrational trials and eventually commercialization and the pipeline expands to have multiple clinical-stage programs."

Dr. Jahn previously held the position of Vice President, Clinical Development at RAPT Therapeutics, where he oversaw the clinical development of FLX475.  Prior to RAPT, Dr. Jahn served as Vice President, Clinical Science at Kartos, where he oversaw the clinical development of KRT-232. At Abbvie, he led the development of venetoclax (VENCLEXTA®) for the treatment of MDS and coordinated that development with Genentech/Roche, and he was instrumental in the development of navitoclax for the treatment of myelofibrosis. While at Gilead Sciences, Dr. Jahn was the clinical lead on two pivotal Phase 3 studies leading to the approval of idelalisib (ZYDELIG^®) combination therapy in CLL.

"I am very excited about the promising results to date with APX005M combination treatment in patients with high unmet medical needs in multiple solid tumor indications and settings," said Dr. Jahn. "I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the further clinical development of APX005M as well as to advance Apexigen's pipeline programs."

About Apexigen
Apexigen is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a new generation of antibody therapeutics for oncology, with an emphasis on new immuno-oncology agents that could harness the patient's immune system to combat and eradicate cancer. APX005M, a CD40 agonistic antibody in Phase 2 clinical development, and Apexigen's preclinical programs were discovered using APXiMABtm, Apexigen's proprietary product discovery platform. Apexigen and its licensees are using this platform to seek to discover and develop high-quality therapeutic antibodies against a variety of molecular targets, including targets that are difficult to drug with conventional antibody technologies. Six product candidates discovered using APXiMABtm are currently in clinical development or being commercialized, either internally by Apexigen or by its licensees.  For more information, please visit www.apexigen.com.

Investor Contact:
Jennifer Porcelli
Senior Vice President
Solebury Trout
646-378-2962
[email protected]

Apexigen Contact:
Mark Nevins
Vice President, Business Development
Apexigen
650-931-6236
[email protected]

SOURCE Apexigen, Inc.