Cerulean Announces Management Changes
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 27, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerulean Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq:CERU), a leader in Dynamic Tumor Targeting™, today announced that Oliver Fetzer, Ph.D., has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective as of October 29, 2014, to pursue other professional opportunities. Paul Friedman, M.D., who currently serves on Cerulean's Board of Directors, will assume the position of Executive Chairman of the Board. Bill Rastetter, Ph.D., will continue to serve as the Lead Independent Director of the Board. Chris Guiffre, J.D., Cerulean's Chief Business Officer will assume the position of Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Fetzer will serve as a consultant to Cerulean through April of 2015.
"Dr. Friedman's significant tenure as a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry will serve Cerulean well as the Company continues to develop its nanoparticle-drug conjugates, or NDCs, for the treatment of cancer, with several clinical milestones expected in 2015 for our lead candidate, CRLX101," said Dr. Rastetter.
Dr. Friedman has served as a member of Cerulean's Board of Directors since January 2014. Dr. Friedman recently retired as President and CEO of Incyte Corporation, after over 12 years, having built the company into a successful commercial oncology enterprise with a market capitalization of approximately $10 billion. His previous roles in the biopharmaceutical industry include: President of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratories (formerly The DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company) and Senior Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to his work in industry, Dr. Friedman was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School.
"I am excited about the potential of our platform-generated NDCs and look forward to the clinical data for CRLX101 and CRLX301 coming in 2015," commented Dr. Friedman. "We thank Dr. Fetzer for his contributions to Cerulean and wish him luck in his future endeavors."
Mr. Guiffre has served as Cerulean's Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer since 2012. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Alvos Therapeutics, Inc., CBO of Hydra Biosciences, Inc., General Counsel of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and General Counsel of Renaissance Worldwide, Inc.
Dr. Friedman continued, "Mr. Guiffre's well-deserved advancement within the Company is a testament to his instrumental involvement in Cerulean's success and his proven leadership skills."
About Cerulean Pharma
The Cerulean team is committed to improving treatment for people living with cancer. We apply our Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to create a portfolio of nanoparticle-drug conjugates, or NDCs, designed to selectively attack tumor cells, reduce toxicity by sparing the body's normal cells, and enable therapeutic combinations. Our lead product candidate, CRLX101, is in multiple clinical trials with other cancer treatments, all of which aim to unlock the power of combination therapy. For more information, please visit www.ceruleanrx.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about the clinical development of our product candidates, and other statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, availability of funding sufficient for our foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 12, 2014 and in other filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.
CONTACT: Aurora Krause Cerulean Pharma Inc. Corporate Communications 617-551-9627 [email protected]