Atreca Announces Agreement to Terminate Lease and Departure of Chief Financial Officer Herb Cross
September 21 2023 - 08:00AM
Atreca, Inc. (Atreca) (NASDAQ: BCEL), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics
generated through a unique discovery platform based on
interrogation of the active human immune response, today announced
that, as part of its ongoing efforts to lower operating expenses,
the Company has entered into an agreement to terminate its lease
agreement pertaining to the Company's headquarters in San Carlos,
CA, which represented approximately $13 million of annual
expenditures. In addition, Herb Cross, Chief Financial Officer,
will depart the Company on September 22, 2023, to pursue an
external opportunity. Mr. Cross will continue to support the
Company as a consultant through the first quarter of 2024. John
Orwin, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, will assume the role
of principal financial officer and Rick Ruiz, Vice President,
Finance of the Company, will assume the role of principal
accounting officer going forward.
“I’d like to thank Herb for his service to Atreca over the last
five years. His experience and financial stewardship have been
crucial to the management of Atreca’s operations since before our
initial public offering, and we wish him luck in his future
endeavors,” said Mr. Orwin. “The agreement to terminate our lease
agreement dramatically reduces our ongoing operating expenses and
helps to extend our cash runway through the first quarter of 2024.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities has been an excellent real estate
partner for Atreca and we are extremely grateful for their
willingness to help us to address this significant obligation,
which will facilitate the Company’s evaluation of strategic
transactions.”
Under the terms of its amended lease agreement with Alexandria
Real Estate Equities, Inc., Atreca will terminate its long-term
lease entered into in July 2019 in exchange for aggregate
consideration of approximately $5 million. Atreca will vacate the
premises by November 30, 2023, and will be evaluating options for
facilities sized to its current operational needs.
Mr. Ruiz joined Atreca as Vice President, Finance, in 2018,
bringing over 20 years of experience in financial management. Prior
to joining Atreca, Mr. Ruiz was a consultant at RoseRyan, Inc., a
leading finance and accounting advisory firm.
About Atreca, Inc.Atreca is a biopharmaceutical
company developing novel antibody-based therapeutics generated by
its differentiated discovery platform, with a focus on
antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Atreca's platform allows access to
an unexplored landscape in oncology through the identification of
unique antibody-target pairs generated by the human immune system
during an active immune response against tumors. These antibodies
provide the basis for a pipeline of first-in-class oncology
programs led by APN-497444, an ADC targeting a novel tumor glycan,
in addition to MAM01/ATRC-501, a clinical candidate licensed to the
Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute for the
prevention of malaria. For more information on Atreca, please visit
www.atreca.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This release
contains statements regarding matters that are not historical facts
that are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding our strategy and future plans, including
statements regarding the departure of our Chief Financial Officer
and his related consulting arrangement to support us through the
first quarter of 2024, our ability to extend our cash runway and
the timing thereof, our evaluation of strategic transactions, the
agreement to terminate our lease agreement for our corporate
headquarters and the expected timing thereof, and our evaluation of
corporate facilities to meet our operational needs. Our actual
results may differ materially from those indicated in these
forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties related
to the initiation, timing, progress and results of our research and
development programs, preclinical studies, clinical trials,
regulatory submissions, and other matters that are described in our
most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, including the risk
factors set forth therein. Investors are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation
to update any forward-looking statement in this press release,
except as required by law.
Contacts
Atreca, Inc.Herb CrossChief Financial Officerinfo@atreca.com
Investors and Media:Alex Gray, 650-779-9251agray@atreca.com
Source: Atreca, Inc.
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