Atavistik Bio Appoints Bryan Stuart as Chief Executive Officer

• Mr. Stuart brings more than 25 years of biopharma executive leadership, corporate strategy, and business development experience to guide Atavistik Bio's advancing discovery pipeline
  
• Jeff Goater, interim CEO and venture partner at The Column Group, will continue to serve on Atavistik Bio's Board of Directors
• Atavistik Bio is pioneering a systematic, scalable approach to revolutionize small molecule drug discovery by identifying and harnessing highly conserved protein-metabolite interactions
  

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atavistik Bio, a biotechnology company focused on developing transformative small molecule therapeutics by revolutionizing the discovery and interrogation of new allosteric protein-metabolite interactions with its AMPS platform, today announced the appointment of Bryan Stuart as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a Director on the company's Board. Mr. Stuart will succeed Jeff Goater, a venture partner at The Column Group, who has served as interim CEO of Atavistik Bio since January 2022 and will continue to serve as a Director on Atavistik Bio's Board.

"We are delighted to welcome Bryan as CEO to steer the exciting growth ahead for Atavistik Bio," said Dr. John Josey, Atavistik Bio's Board Chair. "With Bryan's proven track record stewarding candidates from the clinic to commercialization, we are confident he is the right person to lead Atavistik Bio into its next critical stage. We are extremely grateful to have had Jeff's insightful leadership during the planned interim period and look forward to his continued contributions as a member of the Board."

Mr. Stuart commented, "I am extremely excited to join Atavistik Bio as CEO. Atavistik is poised to be a true disruptor in small molecule drug discovery with the tremendous progress and validation of the AMPS platform. AMPS has now demonstrated a reproducible ability to interrogate protein-metabolite interactions to unlock functional allosteric binding sites, and then engineer novel small molecules to elicit the desired therapeutic effect. This creates the opportunity for tremendous impact across many diseases. I look forward to working with the Board and the exceptional Atavistik Bio team to continue the company's mission of delivering transformative medicines to improve patients' lives."   

Mr. Stuart was most recently CEO of Fulcrum Therapeutics, where he initially served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Fulcrum, he served as president and CEO of Yarra Therapeutics (a subsidiary of Array BioPharma) and CEO of Kastle Therapeutics; both companies focused on developing therapies for rare and severe diseases. Previously, Mr. Stuart served as Chief Business Officer of Civitas Therapeutics (acquired by Acorda Therapeutics) and also led business development, corporate development and strategy at both EKR Therapeutics (acquired by Chiesi Farmaceutici) and Ovation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Lundbeck A/S). Mr. Stuart earned his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois.   

"I'm proud of the remarkable progress that the Atavistik Bio team has made in such a short period," said Mr. Goater. "The advancement of our precision medicine candidates for cancer and inborn errors of metabolism has created a tremendous opportunity to extend the reach of the AMPS platform in these therapeutic areas and many others. Bryan's extensive corporate strategy and development experience further entrench him as an ideal leader for the company. I look forward to working with Bryan, the Atavistik Bio team, and my fellow Board members as the Atavistik Bio story continues to unfold."

About Atavistik Bio

Atavistik Bio, located in Cambridge, MA, is pioneering a systematic, scalable approach to identify and harness highly conserved protein-metabolite interactions to revolutionize small molecule drug discovery. Combined, our AMPS and structure-based drug design platforms leverage advanced data analytics and AI to unlock functional allosteric binding sites and engineer novel, highly specific small molecule drugs to activate, inhibit or stabilize targets. Our breakthrough approach has the potential to deliver transformative medicines for patients across a broad range of diseases, with an initial internal development focus on precision medicines for cancer and inborn errors of metabolism.

For more information, visit atavistikbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Liz Melone
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4208f96c-12bb-4296-bbab-5b4b72e441f5