Zyngenia, Inc. Expands Its Board of Directors with Leading Life Sciences Business Executives Christian Itin and Jason Rhodes

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zyngenia, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing Zybodies (next-generation multi-specific antibody-based drugs) in oncology and immunology, announced today that its board of directors has approved the appointment of new board members Christian Itin, Ph.D., and Jason Rhodes. Both of these executives have a deep breadth of leadership, company building and business development experience within the life sciences industry.

"I am pleased to welcome Christian and Jason to our Board," said David Mott, Zyngenia's Chairman of the Board. "Christian is an accomplished senior executive in the multi-specific biologics space having led Micromet, the company at the forefront of the development of bi-specific biotherapeutics, at the time of its sale to Amgen for $1.2 billion. Jason is a leading business executive within the biopharma industry who has executed numerous alliances with total realized non-dilutive funding in excess of $320 million during his tenure at both Epizyme and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Zyngenia is fortunate to add the expertise from both of these industry leaders.  Their collective experience will complement Zyngenia's ongoing efforts to develop innovative products through efficient drug development and strategic partnerships."

About Christian Itin, Ph.D.

Christian Itin, Ph.D. currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and designated Chairman of the Board of Cytos Biotechnology Ltd, a public Swiss biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of CYT003 in allergic asthma.  Prior to joining Cytos, Christian served as Micromet's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the company's Board of Directors from May 2006 through the company's March 2012 acquisition by Amgen. Christian served in a number of senior management roles with the company's predecessor Micromet AG, including Chief Executive Officer from March 2004 to May 2006, Chief Business Officer from April 2002 to March 2004, and Vice President of Business and Corporate Development from September 2001 to April 2002.  During his 13 years' tenure at Micromet, Christian advanced Micromet's bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) technology into clinical trials, executed numerous important partnerships, led the reverse merger with CancerVax that listed Micromet on NASDAQ, raised more than $300 million in private and public financings and led the acquisition of Micromet by Amgen.  Prior to joining Micromet in 1999, Christian co-founded Zyomyx, Inc., a protein chip company based in Hayward, California. He received a diploma in biology and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Basel. In addition, he performed post-doctoral research at the Biocenter of Basel University and at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

About Jason P. Rhodes

Jason Rhodes currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Epizyme, a position he has held since early 2010.  At Epizyme, Jason has been responsible for numerous highly successful corporate partnerships including deals with Celgene, GSK, and Eisai as well securing awards from both The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society resulting in realized non-dilutive funding exceeding $120 million. Previously, as Vice President of Business Development at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, he led transformative partnerships including the landmark $1 billion partnership with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the spin out of Regulus Therapeutics, Regulus' $600 million partnership with GSK, important product partnerships with Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Cubist, and Roche as well as a broad range of in-licensing. Prior to Alnylam, he was a founder and partner with Fidelity Investments' biopharma venture capital group, where he led investments in companies including Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, and Mersana Therapeutics. Jason received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

About Zyngenia, Inc.

Zyngenia, Inc. is a privately held biotherapeutics company focused on the development of next-generation multi-specific antibody-based therapeutics. The company uses proprietary patented technology to engineer single molecular entities that interact with two or more targets. The multiple target strategy has created many opportunities for innovative therapeutics with new mechanisms of action that are not achievable with single specificity antibodies. The company has initially focused its Zybody™ development on therapies for various cancers and autoimmune disorders. Zyngenia, whose lead investor is New Enterprise Associates, is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. For more information, visit www.zyngenia.com.

SOURCE Zyngenia, Inc.