GeneCentric Therapeutics Appoints New CBO; Advances Drug Development Platform

GeneCentric Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced the appointments of Walter M. Capone as Chief Business Officer and Ellen Lubman to the company’s Board of Directors. In his role as CBO, Mr. Capone will lead the expansion in pharmaceutical and biotechnology company drug development collaborations involving GeneCentric’s Cancer Subtyping Platform (CSP), and will oversee the company’s commercial strategy and growth. As a Director, Ms. Lubman will augment GeneCentric’s industry and partnership development focus.

“We are excited to have Walter join our strong leadership team,” said Chief Executive Officer Dr. Myla Lai-Goldman. “His expertise in drug development and commercialization will enable GeneCentric Therapeutics to actively expand its pharmaceutical and biotech company collaborations to advance therapeutic breakthroughs.”

Mr. Capone most recently served as CEO and President of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), advancing industry, academic research, government agency and patient community collaborations to drive breakthroughs for patients. The launch of the landmark CoMMpass Study, support in advancing six new myeloma therapies to market, and expansion in innovative academic/industry partnerships were among his accomplishments. Prior to joining the MMRF, Mr. Capone had over 20 years of pharma/biotech leadership experience in the United States and internationally in the areas of oncology, immunology, and infectious disease drug development and commercialization at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Trimeris Inc., Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wyeth, and Lederle. He received his MBA from Columbia University Business School and BA from Brown University.

Ellen Lubman joins GeneCentric Therapeutics Board of Directors as an Independent Director. She currently serves as Allergan’s Vice President, External Science and Innovation, where she is responsible for increasing the company’s access to scientific and structural innovation in defined areas of therapeutic expertise. Lubman has over 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical sales, business, and corporate development, strategy, and operations at companies including Amgen, Kadmon Corporation, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Ms. Lubman holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“We are honored to have Ellen join GeneCentric’s Board,” said Clay Thorp, GeneCentric’s Chairman and General Partner at GeneCentric’s lead investor, Hatteras Venture Partners. “Ellen’s relationships, along with her expertise in strategy, sales, and growth will be enormous assets as we take GeneCentric to the next level.”

“As GeneCentric advances its capabilities to enhance and accelerate our pharma/biotech partners’ novel therapeutics via CSP-enabled drug development, we are reaching an exciting inflection point for GeneCentric’s growth and success going forward,” stated Goldman. “By leveraging our CSP platform, we can help our pharma partners de-risk the costly drug development process, to ensure the greatest success for their therapeutic programs, and ultimately, the patients we serve.”

GeneCentric Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held precision medicine company that is redefining the advanced classification of cancers through the development and commercialization of its proprietary Cancer Subtype Platform (CSP). By defining subtypes of cancer, CSP can enable drug developers to better predict drug response and determine why drugs fail in late-stage clinical trials. GeneCentric creates and applies technologies focused on enhancing, accelerating and de-risking the costly drug development process to enable its industry partners to advance therapies that obtain the best possible patient treatment outcomes. GeneCentric was founded in 2011 and is based in Durham, NC. In addition to Bristol-Myers Squibb, its investors include Hatteras Venture Partners and Laboratory Corporation of America. For more information, visit www.genecentric.com.