Kenneth A. Berlin appointed President, CEO
and Director; Dr. Andres A. Gutierrez named Chief Medical Officer;
Sara Bonstein, CFO, to depart
Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADXS), a late-stage biotechnology
company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization
of immunotherapy products, today announced that Kenneth A. Berlin
has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer,
effective April 23, 2018, and will also serve as a Director of the
company. Interim CEO Anthony Lombardo will remain with Advaxis for
a period of time to ensure a smooth transition to Mr. Berlin.
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Kenneth A. Berlin, President, CEO and
Director of Advaxis, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)
In addition, Andres A. Gutierrez, M.D., Ph.D. has been named
Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, effective April
23, 2018. Advaxis also announced that CFO Sara Bonstein will be
leaving the company as of April 30, 2018 to pursue a new
professional opportunity. The Company is actively engaged in the
search for a new CFO, and will announce an interim appointment
shortly.
“After a comprehensive and methodical search, we are very
pleased to announce that Ken Berlin has agreed to join Advaxis as
President and CEO, and that Dr. Andres Gutierrez is joining our
team as CMO. Both of these executives are eminently qualified for
their new positions, and we expect to benefit greatly from their
expertise. Under their leadership, we look to the future of the
company with excitement and confidence,” stated David Sidransky,
M.D., Chairman of the Board. “On behalf of the Board, I would like
to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Sara Bonstein and
Anthony Lombardo for their valued service to the company as CFO and
interim CEO, respectively, and extend best wishes to both of
them.”
Mr. Berlin joins Advaxis from Rosetta Genomics, where since 2009
he was President and Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure at
Rosetta, Mr. Berlin spearheaded the effort of repositioning the
company for commercial success with various microRNA-based oncology
diagnostic products and raised nearly $100 million in capital to
fund these efforts. Prior to Rosetta Genomics, Mr. Berlin was
Worldwide General Manager at cellular and molecular cancer
diagnostics developer Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson
company. At Veridex he grew the organization to over 100 employees,
launched three cancer diagnostic products, led the acquisition of
its cellular diagnostics partner, and delivered significant growth
in sales as Veridex transitioned from an R&D entity to a
commercial provider of oncology diagnostic products and services.
During Mr. Berlin’s tenure, Veridex received numerous awards
including recognition from the Cleveland Clinic and Prix Galien for
the use of its innovative CellSearch® technology in the fight
against cancer.
Mr. Berlin joined Johnson & Johnson in 1994 and served as
corporate counsel for six years. He led and participated on the
legal team that oversaw several mergers, acquisitions, divestitures
and commercial transactions. He then held positions of increasing
responsibility within Johnson & Johnson and a number of its
subsidiary companies. From 2001 until 2004 he served as Vice
President, Licensing and New Business Development in the
pharmaceuticals group, and from 2004 until 2007 served as Worldwide
Vice President, Franchise Development, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.
He has been responsible for numerous licensing and/or research
collaboration deals in oncology, metabolic disease, cardiovascular
disease, CNS and women’s health, including the ex-U.S. license to
Millennium Pharmaceutical’s VELCADE, a first-in-class, oncology
therapeutic with peak reported sales outside the U.S. of
approximately $1.8 billion.
“Ken brings to Advaxis a truly valuable combination of executive
leadership experience with large and small, development-stage and
commercial companies with a particular expertise in oncology. He
has a proven ability to raise capital, launch products, achieve
rapid sales growth, build businesses and complete strategic M&A
and licensing transactions. We are fortunate to have Ken as our new
chief executive,” commented Dr. Sidransky.
“The opportunity to join Advaxis at such a pivotal and active
time is very exciting,” stated Mr. Berlin. “I look forward to
building on the company’s strong foundations and to maximize the
value of our Lm-based platform technology worldwide and in multiple
indications.”
Mr. Berlin holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a
J.D. from the University of California Los Angeles School of
Law.
Dr. Gutierrez will be responsible for all global clinical
development and regulatory initiatives for Advaxis’ novel Lm-based
antigen delivery platform. He has more than 25 years of experience
in clinical oncology and drug development and joins Advaxis from
Oncolytics Biotech, Inc., where he served as Chief Medical Officer.
Prior to Oncolytics, Dr. Gutierrez was Chief Medical Officer at
SELLAS Life Sciences Group and was Medical Director, Early
Development Immuno-Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he
oversaw the development of translational and clinical development
of immuno-oncology programs in solid tumors and hematological
malignancies. Earlier, Dr. Gutierrez was Medical Director for
several biotechnology companies including Sunesis Pharmaceuticals,
BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Proteolix and Oculus Innovative Sciences,
leading key programs with talazoparib and carfilzomib, among others
. Prior to Oculus, he served as Director of the Gene & Cell
Therapy Unit at the National Institutes of Health in Mexico City
and as a consultant physician at the Hospital Angeles del
Pedregal.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Gutierrez to Advaxis and are
confident he will be a valuable addition to our executive team. He
is an accomplished leader and physician with a track record of
success in developing novel oncology drugs, putting patients first
and delivering results,” said Dr. Sidransky. “Dr. Gutierrez has
played a key role in the advancement of clinical trials in all
stages of development, through to drug approvals. We look forward
to benefitting from his expertise in oncology drug development as
he leads the clinical development of our immune-oncology
platform.”
“I am excited to be joining Advaxis at this important time in
the company’s evolution with multiple clinical programs planned and
underway, and look forward to contributing to the impressive
progress made to date by the Advaxis team in advancing its
innovative Lm-based antigen delivery technology across a number of
important cancer indications,” said Dr. Gutierrez. “Advaxis has a
promising future as we continue to accelerate the development of
our pipeline and bring innovative new medicines to patients.”
Dr. Gutierrez received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in biomedical
science from the National University of Mexico, with board
certification in internal medicine and a fellowship in clinical
oncology at the Hammersmith Hospital in London. He has presented
clinical data at more than 85 scientific and medical meetings, has
written numerous peer-reviewed articles, is a contributing author
on nine medical textbooks and is named on 20 patents relating to
drug development.
About Advaxis, Inc.
Advaxis, Inc. is a late-stage biotechnology company focused on
the discovery, development and commercialization of proprietary
Lm-based antigen delivery products. These immunotherapies are based
on a platform technology that utilizes live attenuated Listeria
monocytogenes (Lm) bioengineered to secrete antigen/adjuvant fusion
proteins. These Lm-based strains are believed to be a significant
advancement in immunotherapy as they integrate multiple functions
into a single immunotherapy and are designed to access and direct
antigen presenting cells to stimulate anti-tumor T cell immunity,
activate the immune system with the equivalent of multiple
adjuvants, and simultaneously reduce tumor protection in the tumor
microenvironment to enable the T cells to eliminate tumors. Advaxis
has four franchises in various stages of clinical and preclinical
development: HPV-associated cancers, neoantigen therapy, hotspot/
cancer antigens and prostate cancer.
To learn more about Advaxis, visit www.advaxis.com and connect
on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
Advaxis Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, statements regarding Advaxis’
ability to develop and commercialize the next generation of cancer
immunotherapies, and the safety and efficacy of Advaxis’
proprietary immunotherapies. These forward-looking statements are
subject to a number of risks including the risk factors set forth
from time to time in Advaxis’ SEC filings including, but not
limited to, its report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
October 31, 2017, and on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January
31, 2018, which are available at www.sec.gov.
Any forward-looking statements set forth in this presentation
speak only as of the date of this presentation. We do not intend to
update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances that occur after the date hereof other than as
required by law. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
any forward-looking statements.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180423005211/en/
Advaxis, Inc.Noelle Heber, 609-250-7575Sr. Director Corporate
Communications and Government
AffairsHeber@advaxis.comorInvestors:LHA Investor
RelationsMiriam Weber Miller, 212-838-3777mmiller@lhai.com
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