Constellation Pharmaceuticals Appoints Industry Veteran Garen Bohlin to Senior Management Group
-Company Leading Emerging Field of Epigenetics-
CAMBRIDGE, MA - January 20, 2010 - Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has appointed Garen Bohlin as the company's Executive Vice President. Mr. Bohlin will be responsible for Constellation's corporate operations and finance function.
Mr. Bohlin has held senior executive posts in leading biotechnology companies for the past 25 years. Most recently he served as Chief Operating Officer of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, where he played key roles in the general management of Sirtris, as well as in its initial public offering, the sale of the company to GlaxoSmithKline for over $700 million, and the post-acquisition integration. Prior to his role at Sirtris, Mr. Bohlin was the founding Chief Executive Officer of Syntonix Pharmaceuticals where he positioned the company for its eventual sale to Biogen Idec. He began his career in the biotechnology sector at Genetics Institute, where he held multiple executive positions culminating with responsibility for most of the non-scientific areas in this fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. He also played an integral role in structuring the sale of Genetics Institute to American Home Products (Wyeth) at an implied valuation of approximately $3 billion. Mr. Bohlin was a partner at Arthur Andersen & Co. before assuming various operating roles in the life sciences field.
"We are delighted and proud that Garen is bringing his operational talents to Constellation," said Mark A. Goldsmith, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Constellation Pharmaceuticals. "Garen is widely respected for his impressive record of delivering strong investor returns from innovative companies. He has helped steer drug discovery companies through all stages of their life cycle and will be an enormous organizational asset as we deploy our product engine to bring new therapeutics forward on behalf of patients."
"Constellation is a clear leader in the cutting edge field of epigenetics," said Mr. Bohlin. "The company has amassed an impressive group of internal and external scientific experts in this field and is poised to lead the translation of this groundbreaking biology and discovery platform into drugs that will address challenging therapeutic disease areas such as cancer. I believe that the company is well positioned to create substantial value for its investors in the years ahead."
About Constellation Pharmaceuticals
Constellation Pharmaceuticals is the first biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of novel therapeutics in the emerging field of Epigenetics, a new field of science that focuses on selective regulators of gene function and expression. Constellation's initial focus is in oncology, and the Company's platform will also be applicable to other therapeutic areas including autoimmune, inflammatory and neurological diseases. The Company's academic founders represent the core thought leaders in epigenetics responsible for key advances, insights and discoveries in the field. Constellation Pharmaceuticals is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.constellationpharma.com.
Constellation's Board of Directors include: Anthony Evnin, Partner, Venrock; David Goeddel, Ph.D., Partner, The Column Group; Mark Levin, Partner, Third Rock Ventures; Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., Professor, Harvard University; Robert Tepper, M.D., Partner, Third Rock Ventures; and Mark A. Goldsmith, M.D., Ph.D., CEO, Constellation Pharmaceuticals. The Company's Chief Scientific Officer is Edward E. Harlow, Jr., Ph.D. and its Chief Business Officer is Kerry Reinertsen, Ph.D.
Constellation Pharmaceuticals was founded by three of the foremost authorities and leaders within the field of Epigenetics: Danny Reinberg, Ph.D, Professor of Biochemistry at the New York University School of Medicine and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Institute; Yang Shi, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School and David Allis, Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology at The Rockefeller University.
About Epigenetics
Epigenetics is an exciting new field of biology that involves chemical modifications of both DNA and of its packaging proteins ("chromatin"), which are collectively called the ‘epigenome.' The genome, or DNA, is the "blueprint" for the human body, consisting of thousands of genes, which are the fundamental units of information necessary for normal cell growth and development. In contrast, the epigenome plays a critical role in regulating the expression of genes, that is, switching genes on or off - or in the case of disease, for switching genes on or off incorrectly. This new field of Epigenetic science provides the opportunity to create a broad new class of human therapeutics targeting selective regulators of epigenetic function.