AVEO Announces Appointment of Erick J. Lucera as Chief Financial Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AVEO Oncology (NASDAQ: AVEO) today announced the appointment of Erick Lucera as chief financial officer. Mr. Lucera will be responsible for managing all aspects of the Company’s financial and accounting functions.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Erick to the AVEO team,” said Michael Bailey, president and chief executive officer of AVEO. “With a proven track record of success in a range of senior executive roles at multiple biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies, his experience will be invaluable as we continue to pursue our goal of unlocking the full potential of tivozanib and advance the remainder of our pipeline candidates. I look forward to leveraging his insights as we work toward becoming a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company.”

“With a New Drug Application filing for tivozanib expected in the first quarter of 2020, I believe AVEO is well-positioned to deliver on its goal of bringing novel, effective cancer therapies to patients with high unmet need,” said Mr. Lucera. “I look forward to working alongside an accomplished leadership team and to contributing to the Company’s success.”

Mr. Lucera brings to AVEO over twenty years of financial, operational, and investment experience in the biotechnology and medical device industries. He most recently served as chief financial officer of Valeritas, a publicly traded commercial-stage medical technology company focused on developing solutions for people with diabetes, where he led the company through multiple public offerings. Prior to Valeritas, Mr. Lucera served as the chief financial officer, treasurer, and secretary of Viventia Bio (acquired by Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc., now Sesen Bio), a biotechnology company focused on developing targeted protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. He also previously served as vice president, corporate development at Aratana Therapeutics, a veterinary biopharmaceutical company, where he helped grow the company’s product pipeline through a series of acquisitions and in-licensing transactions financed through five public and private offerings of nearly $250 million in aggregate. Previously, Mr. Lucera was vice president, corporate development at Sunshine Heart (now CHF Solution), a medical device manufacturer.

Prior to Sunshine Heart, Mr. Lucera spent over 15 years in investment management as a healthcare analyst at Eaton Vance, the portfolio manager of the Triathlon Life Sciences Fund at Intrepid Capital, and as head of the healthcare research team at Independence Investments. He began his career as a staff auditor and accountant at Price Waterhouse & Co. (now PwC). Mr. Lucera holds a CPH from Harvard University, an MS from Boston College, an MBA from Indiana University Bloomington, and a BS in accounting from the University of Delaware. Mr. Lucera holds CFA, CMA, and CPA designations.

About AVEO

AVEO Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to advance targeted medicines for oncology and other unmet medical needs. The Company’s lead candidate is tivozanib, a potent, selective, long half-life inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor 1, 2 and, 3 receptors, which AVEO is seeking to develop and commercialize in North America as a treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other cancers. Tivozanib (FOTIVDA^®) is approved by the European Commission for the treatment of adult patients with advanced RCC in the European Union plus Norway, New Zealand and Iceland. AVEO is leveraging or seeks to leverage partnerships to develop and commercialize its pipeline of products and product candidates, including tivozanib in oncology and other indications in various geographies, and ficlatuzumab (HGF MAb) in head and neck cancer, pancreatic cancer and acute myeloid leukemia. AVEO’s earlier-stage pipeline includes AV-203 (anti-ErbB3 MAb), AV-380 (GDF15 MAb) and AV-353 (Notch 3 MAb) drug candidates being developed for various oncology indications.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.aveooncology.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements of AVEO within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “seek,” “look forward,” “advance,” “goal,” “strategy,” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements about: AVEO’s plans to submit a New Drug Application for tivozanib in the first quarter of 2020; the potential for tivozanib as a treatment option for patients with relapsed/refractory or advanced RCC; the potential efficacy, safety, and tolerability of tivozanib, both as a stand-alone drug candidate and in combination with other therapies in several indications; AVEO’s plans and strategies for commercialization of tivozanib in the United States and Europe; and AVEO’s strategy, prospects, plans and objectives for its product candidates and for the Company generally. AVEO has based its expectations and estimates on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these expectations and estimates. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements that AVEO makes due to a number of important factors, including risks relating to: AVEO’s ability, and the ability of its licensees, to demonstrate to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory agencies such as the FDA the safety, efficacy and clinically meaningful benefit of AVEO’s product candidates, including, in particular, tivozanib and ficlatuzumab; AVEO’s ability to successfully file an NDA for tivozanib; and AVEO’s ability to enter into and maintain its third party collaboration and license agreements, and its ability, and the ability of its strategic partners, to achieve development and commercialization objectives under these arrangements. AVEO faces other risks relating to its business as well, including risks relating to the timing and costs of seeking and obtaining regulatory approval; AVEO’s and its collaborators’ ability to successfully enroll and complete clinical trials; AVEO’s ability to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements applicable to its product candidates; AVEO’s ability to obtain and maintain adequate protection for intellectual property rights relating to its product candidates; AVEO’s ability to successfully implement its strategic plans; AVEO’s ability to raise the substantial additional funds required to achieve its goals, including those goals pertaining to the development and commercialization of tivozanib; unplanned capital requirements; adverse general economic and industry conditions; competitive factors; and those risks discussed in the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” included in AVEO’s quarterly and annual reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other filings that AVEO makes with the SEC. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent AVEO’s views as of the date of this press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change. While AVEO may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing AVEO’s views as of any date other than the date of this press release.

Contacts

AVEO Contact:
David Pitts, Argot Partners

(212) 600-1902

[email protected]