Blend Therapeutics Founded by Leading Researchers in Chemistry and Nanomedicine to Develop A New Class of Integrative Combinatio

Blend Therapeutics Founded by Leading Researchers in Chemistry and Nanomedicine to Develop A New Class of Integrative Combination Medicines

Company Attracts Capital from Top-Tier Venture Investors

Watertown, Mass., January 6, 2012 -- Blend Therapeutics, a biotechnology company discovering and developing a new class of integrative combination medicines, announced the company's founding and strategic mission to develop innovative combination medicines with novel pharmacological profiles designed to target distinct disease pathways with optimal efficacy and safety. Blend is founded based on its proprietary MaestroTM platform for integrative combination medicines, and the company has secured financing from top-tier venture investors, including Flagship Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and NanoDimension.

Blend was founded by leaders in the fields of chemistry and nanomedicine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School: Dr. Robert Langer and Dr. Stephen Lippard of MIT, and Dr. Omid Farokhzad of Harvard Medical School. Blend's founders provide scientific leadership and expertise in the company's promising new approach to create integrated, pharmacologically controlled combination medicines that more predictably, effectively, and safely target the multiple mechanisms underlying complex diseases.

"We have founded Blend to discover and develop first-in-class integrative combination medicines that target distinct disease pathways in concert with optimal efficacy and safety," said Professor Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a founder and Director of Blend Therapeutics. "We see unparalleled opportunity to translate innovative science into important drugs for patients in need, and we're excited by the strength of our founding investors and management who share our vision of building a successful biotechnology company that is foremost about improving the lives of patients"

Blend also announced the establishment of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The initial members of the SAB will include eight thought leaders in the fields of chemistry, cancer biology, immunology and medicine from a range of prominent academic institutions and medical centers:

• Dennis Ausiello, MD, Chief of Medicine and Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School;
• Omid Farokhzad, MD, Director of the Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials and Associate Professor of Anesthesia, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School;
• Philip Kantoff, MD, Chief Clinical Research Officer and Professor of Medicine, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School;
• Alexander Klibanov, PhD, Novartis Professor of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
• Robert Langer, ScD, David H. Koch Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
• Stephen J. Lippard, PhD, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
• Ulrich von Andrian, MD, PhD, Mallinckrodt Professor of Immunopathology, Harvard Medical School;
• Bruce R. Zetter, PhD, Charles Nowiszerski Professor of Cancer Biology, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.

Blend's SAB will guide and support the advancement of Blend's proprietary MaestroTM platform to create integrated, pharmacologically controlled combination medicines that more predictably, effectively, and safely target the multiple mechanisms underlying complex diseases.

"These outstanding medical and scientific leaders will contribute to Blend's ability to deliver on a bold vision to set a new paradigm for combination therapy, by creating integrative combination medicines that can dramatically improve the treatment of complex diseases," said Professor Stephen Lippard, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founder of Blend and Chairman of its SAB.


About Blend Therapeutics

Blend Therapeutics, Inc. is discovering and developing integrative combination medicines with the unprecedented ability to precisely control each agent's therapeutic action in concert. Using the company's proprietary MaestroTM platform, Blend designs and integrates drugs to target distinct disease pathways with optimal efficacy and safety. Blend was founded by three leaders in the fields of chemistry and nanomedicine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School: Dr. Robert Langer and Dr. Stephen Lippard of MIT, and Dr. Omid Farokhzad of Harvard Medical School. Blend is backed by top-tier venture investors, including Flagship Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and NanoDimension. For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.blendtx.com.

MaestroTM is a trademark of Blend Therapeutics, Inc.

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For more information, please contact:
Kathryn Morris
The Yates Network
[email protected]
845-635-9828