Bright Peak Therapeutics Appoints Jacob Chacko, M.D., as Chair of its Board of Directors

SAN DIEGO and BASEL, Switzerland, Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bright Peak Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced that it has appointed Jacob Chacko, M.D., as Chair of its Board of Directors. Dr. Chacko currently serves as President, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: ORIC), a clinical stage oncology company focused on developing treatments that address mechanisms of therapeutic resistance.

"Jacob is an accomplished life-science executive and highly regarded board member with a track record of building leading oncology-focused biotechnology companies," said Fredrik Wiklund, President and CEO of Bright Peak. "Jacob will bring scientific insights and a wealth of experience in corporate and financial strategy to Bright Peak during an important time in the company's continued evolution."

"We welcome Jacob to the Board and look forward to his many contributions to Bright Peak's future success," said Dr. Tom Woiwode, Managing Director of Versant Ventures and Bright Peak Board member. "He is the perfect fit for the company's next stage of growth, given his substantial biotech company leadership experience."

"I'm excited to join Bright Peak's Board of Directors and look forward to working alongside the executive team and my fellow board members to build a leading biotechnology company delivering novel and disease-modifying immunotherapies for patients suffering from cancer and autoimmune disorders," said Dr. Chacko.

Dr. Chacko has served as CEO of ORIC Pharmaceuticals since April 2018. During Dr. Chacko's tenure, ORIC has raised over $375mm in private and public financing, including its IPO in April 2020, has advanced its lead program into two Phase 1b trials, has in-licensed two additional programs, and is on track to file three INDs/CTAs in 2021. Prior to ORIC, Dr. Chacko was most recently CFO of Ignyta, a Nasdaq-listed precision oncology company acquired by Roche for $1.9 billion in February 2018. At Ignyta, he had a broad operational role and helped raise over $500 million in capital. Prior to Ignyta, Dr. Chacko was an investor at TPG Capital, where he helped lead teams that completed acquisitions having an aggregate value of over $10 billion. Prior to that, he was a consultant serving healthcare clients at McKinsey & Company.

Dr. Chacko currently serves on the board of directors of 4D Molecular Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FDMT) and chairs the Western Regional Selection Committee for the Marshall Scholarship. He previously served on the board of directors of Turning Point Therapeutics, Bonti (acquired by Allergan), EnvisionRx (acquired by Rite Aid), RentPath, and the Packard Children's Health Alliance at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford; and he was a board observer to Par Pharmaceutical (acquired by Endo), IMS Health and Quintiles Transnational.

Dr. Chacko concurrently received his MD with AOA honors from UCLA and his MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He also received a MSc from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and undergraduate degrees from the University of Southern California, where he graduated as the University Valedictorian.

About Bright Peak

Bright Peak is a privately held biotechnology company based in San Diego, USA and Basel, Switzerland dedicated to creating next-generation cytokine immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune disease. Bright Peak is pioneering a novel technology to chemically synthesize enhanced and conjugatable cytokines that exploits the potent biological activity of cytokines while avoiding the severe side effects associated with first-generation therapies. Bright Peak's enhanced cytokines can be easily conjugated to a diverse array of molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies, creating a novel class of "Bright Peak Immunocytokines". Bright Peak is funded by a syndicate of leading healthcare investors.

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