Assembly Biosciences Announces Appointment of John McHutchison, AO, MD, as President and Chief Executive Officer
August 07 2019 - 8:00AM
Assembly Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASMB), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics targeting
hepatitis B virus (HBV) and diseases associated with the
microbiome, today announced the appointment of John McHutchison,
AO, MD, as President and Chief Executive Officer effective August
6, 2019. Dr. McHutchison, who will also join Assembly’s Board of
Directors, succeeds Derek Small, who co-founded Assembly
Biosciences in 2014. Mr. Small will return as managing director of
his venture creation firm, Luson Bioventures, and will continue to
serve on Assembly’s Board as a Director and senior advisor.
Dr. McHutchison is an internationally recognized leader in
infectious diseases, liver diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases.
He most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of
Research and Development at Gilead Sciences. During his nine years
at Gilead he led the organization in the successful filing of
numerous New Drug Applications (NDAs) across multiple therapeutic
areas including the curative treatment regimens for chronic
hepatitis C (HCV) and treatment of chronic HBV.
“I am very pleased to welcome John to Assembly and could not
think of a more fitting leader to guide the transition of the
company into a global development stage organization,” stated Derek
Small. “As we now have four development candidates across our HBV
programs and microbiome platform, including our lead core inhibitor
ABI-H0731 completing its Phase 2 studies and ABI-M201 in a Phase 1b
study for ulcerative colitis, it is an ideal time to pass the torch
to a visionary leader who has an extensive track record of moving
important therapies through to approval and out into the hands of
physicians and patients.”
“I am excited to join Assembly, a company with groundbreaking
science at its foundation,” said Dr. McHutchison. “The science and
the talented team are what attracted me to Assembly and gives me
confidence that we can achieve a future with curative treatment
regimens for patients with HBV infection. There are a quarter of a
billion people worldwide who are chronically infected with HBV and
deserve better outcomes, as has been done for patients with HCV
infection. I am enthusiastic about leading this team and working
together to bring transformative medicines to patients in
need.”
William Ringo, Chairman of the Board of Assembly, added, “We are
extremely fortunate to benefit from John’s broad expertise in
antiviral development, and his experience building and advancing
pipelines in other therapeutic areas is also of great importance to
our microbiome program. John shares in our belief that Assembly’s
programs have potential to transform care for patients and he’s
ideally suited to lead the company internally and externally as we
pursue that goal.”
Mr. Ringo continued, “The Board and I would also like to
recognize Derek, who co-founded Assembly Biosciences and has led it
successfully from the start-up discovery phase to the clinic. We
are grateful for the entrepreneurial leadership he has brought to
the company, instilling a spirit for innovation and the shared
vision of revolutionizing treatment approaches to address the needs
of patients.”
Prior to Gilead, Dr. McHutchison held numerous positions at Duke
University Medical Center, including Associate Director of the Duke
Clinical Research Institute, Professor of Medicine in the Division
of Gastroenterology, Director at Duke Clinical Research Unit and
Co-Director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Award.
Earlier in his career, Dr. McHutchison spent nearly a decade at
Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation and was previously an
Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles.
Dr. McHutchison received his degrees in medicine and surgery
from the University of Melbourne in Australia, completed an
internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the
Royal Melbourne Hospital, and a post-doctoral fellowship in Liver
Diseases at the University of Southern California. He is a member
of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and in 2018, he
was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO),
recognizing his “distinguished service to medical research in
gastroenterology and hepatology, particularly through the
development of treatments for viral infections, and to the
biopharmaceutical industry.”
About Assembly Biosciences Assembly
Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company
developing innovative therapeutics targeting hepatitis B virus
(HBV) and diseases associated with the microbiome. The HBV program
is focused on advancing a new class of potent, oral core inhibitors
that have the potential to increase cure rates for chronically
infected patients. The microbiome program is developing novel
oral live microbial biotherapeutic candidates with Assembly’s fully
integrated platform, including a robust process for strain
identification and selection, GMP banking and production, and
targeted delivery to the lower gastrointestinal tract with the
GEMICEL® technology. For more information,
visit assemblybio.com.
Forward-Looking Statements The information in
this press release contains forward-looking statements regarding
future events, including statements about the clinical and
therapeutic potential of core inhibitors and live microbial
biotherapeutics. Certain forward-looking statements may be
identified by reference to a future period or by use of
forward-looking terminology such as “expected,” “may,” “projected”
and “potential.” Assembly intends such forward-looking statements
to be covered by the safe harbor provisions contained in Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Actual results or
developments may differ materially from those projected or implied
in these forward-looking statements. More information about the
risks and uncertainties faced by Assembly are more fully detailed
under the heading “Risk Factors” in Assembly's Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2019 filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law,
Assembly assumes no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Contacts Assembly Biosciences, Inc. Investors:
Lauren Glaser (415) 521-3828 lglaser@assemblybio.com
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