– Company strengthens focus on building
and optimizing commercial readiness and pre-launch
activities for PRGN-2012 in recurrent respiratory
papillomatosis –
GERMANTOWN, Md., July 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Precigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGEN), a
biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of
innovative gene and cell therapies to improve the lives of
patients, today announced the appointment of Phil Tennant as the Company's chief commercial
officer. Mr. Tennant will be responsible for commercial strategy
and execution across US and global markets. His initial focus will
be on driving commercial readiness activities for the potential
launch of the first- and best-in-class PRGN-2012 AdenoVerse gene
therapy in recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). Mr. Tennant
will report to Precigen's President and CEO, Helen Sabzevari, PhD, and will join Precigen's
executive leadership team.
Mr. Tennant's 30-plus year career has spanned
numerous leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including
Merck, Sharp & Dohme, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb and,
most recently, Astellas Pharma. He has worked in multiple
therapeutic areas across the globe, including in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Australia, and the US. For the past 13 years,
his career has focused mainly on oncology, initially driving
commercial success at Bristol Myers Squibb in new markets for the
first wave of immuno-oncology agents, including launching YERVOY®
(ipilimumab) in Australia and
supporting subsequent launches in Europe for both YERVOY and OPDIVO®
(nivolumab), and orchestrating commercial growth across several
hematological cancers with SPRYCEL® (dasatinib) and EMPLICITI®
(elotuzumab). Most recently at Astellas, Mr. Tennant drove
double-digit growth for the $5B
global oncology portfolio, including driving commercial expansion
for the androgen receptor inhibitor, XTANDI® (enzalutamide),
leading US commercial growth in two new indications for the
antibody drug conjugate, PADCEV® (enfortumab vedotin), expanding
the ex-US footprint for the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, XOSPATA®
(gilteritinib), and adding commercial momentum to the targeted
monoclonal antibody, VYLOY™ (zolbetuximab). At Astellas, he served
as a core member of the joint steering committees for two
successful alliances: with Seagen/Pfizer for PADCEV and with Pfizer
for XTANDI. Mr. Tennant has also been a board member for the
Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization (iBIO) and the
global startup incubator, MATTER.
"Phil is a recognized global commercial leader
with an impressive 30-plus year track record building commercial
organizations and scaling commercial operations to drive revenue
growth for both niche and blockbuster therapeutics. In his most
recent role, he successfully drove multiple new product launches
and scaled to ex-US markets leading to double-digit revenue growth.
His expertise in both solid and hematologic cancers as well as rare
diseases represents a tremendous opportunity for Precigen to
capitalize on this expertise," said Helen
Sabzevari, PhD, President and CEO of Precigen. "This is a
transformational time for Precigen as we are transitioning toward a
commercial stage company and Phil's expertise is precisely tailored
to propel our first potential commercial launch in the US. Phil's
relationships with our target prescriber base will enable rapid
growth in our key markets, enabling access to our potential
life-changing RRP therapy for patients who urgently need it."
"This is a tremendously exciting time to join Precigen. I am
thrilled to be able to collaborate with the team to further
commercial readiness work already underway and build out Precigen's
commercial strategy and operations to support the first potential
commercial launch for the company's lead asset,
PRGN-2012," Mr. Tennant said. "I was inspired by the
groundbreaking pivotal data for PRGN-2012 presented at ASCO this
year and learning more about the immense need for a non-surgical
FDA-approved therapeutic option for RRP patients. Precigen is
poised to deliver a potential game-changing novel therapy for these
patients and, as we march toward potential FDA approval, I will
work tirelessly to ensure patients have access to this medicine as
rapidly as possible."
Precigen: Advancing Medicine with
Precision™
Precigen (Nasdaq: PGEN) is a dedicated
discovery and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing
the next generation of gene and cell therapies using precision
technology to target the most urgent and intractable diseases in
our core therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune
disorders, and infectious diseases. Our technologies enable us to
find innovative solutions for affordable biotherapeutics in a
controlled manner. Precigen operates as an innovation engine
progressing a preclinical and clinical pipeline of
well-differentiated therapies toward clinical proof-of-concept and
commercialization. For more information about Precigen, visit
www.precigen.com or follow us on X @Precigen, LinkedIn or
YouTube.
Trademarks
Precigen, AdenoVerse, and Advancing
Medicine with Precision are trademarks of Precigen and/or
its affiliates. YERVOY, OPDIVO, SPRYCEL, EMPLICITI, XTANDI, PADCEV,
XOSPATA, and VYLOY are trademarks of their respective owners.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Some of the statements made in this press release
are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
are based upon the Company's current expectations and projections
about future events and generally relate to plans, objectives, and
expectations for the development of the Company's business,
including the timing and progress of preclinical studies, clinical
trials, discovery programs and related milestones, the promise of
the Company's portfolio of therapies, and in particular its CAR-T
and AdenoVerse therapies. Although management believes that the
plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these
forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future
results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and
expectations expressed in this press release. The Company has no
obligation to provide any updates to these forward-looking
statements even if its expectations change. All forward-looking
statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this
cautionary statement. For further information on potential risks
and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could
cause the Company's actual results to differ from those contained
in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk
Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K
and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Investor Contact:
Steven M.
Harasym
Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel: +1 (301) 556-9850
investors@precigen.com
Media Contacts:
Donelle M.
Gregory
press@precigen.com
Glenn Silver
Lazar-FINN Partners
glenn.silver@finnpartners.com
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SOURCE Precigen, Inc.