SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Good Therapeutics, Inc. today announced appointments of Diane Hollenbaugh, PhD and Neela Patel, PhD to the company’s senior management team. Dr. Hollenbaugh has been promoted to the position of Chief Scientific Officer from Head of Research and Dr. Patel has been appointed as Chief Business Development Officer. The company is focused on the generation of a new class of therapeutics that safely target potent therapy where it is needed.
“Diane Hollenbaugh is a thoughtful leader, committed team player, and a great scientist with a wealth of experience in antibody drug development, immuno-oncology, and research strategy,” said John Mulligan, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Good Therapeutics. “This promotion to CSO is in recognition of the central role she has played to date in our company’s discovery efforts. We are fortunate to have Diane at the heart of the Good Therapeutics’ management team.”
Dr. Mulligan continued, “Neela Patel combines over a decade and a half of bench research with over 12 years experience in business development. Her appointment as Chief Business Development Officer marks the start of a transformation of our company from basic research to a commercial organization that is actively partnering drugs and advancing them into the clinic. I am delighted to welcome Neela to the team.” Dr. Mulligan noted that she is now actively leading partnering discussions with a number of major pharmaceutical companies.
Diane Hollenbaugh, PhD
Diane Hollenbaugh is a drug discovery scientist and executive with more than 25 years of experience in biologicals research, research management, and discovery and early development with a focus on immunology and oncology. Dr. Hollenbaugh initially joined Good Therapeutics in June 2019. Prior to that time, she was Executive Director, Immuno-oncology (IO) Discovery at AbbVie where she oversaw the growth of IO efforts, including early discovery and translational science, licensing partnerships, and five discovery projects brought to IND. Prior to AbbVie, she served at multiple large and small biopharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Medarex, FivePrime Therapeutics and Schering-Plough/Merck. Diane received a PhD from the California Institute of Technology Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and completed her post-doc training at Bristol-Myers Squibb. She is an inventor on more than 20 issued patents and has authored more than 50 publications.
Dr. Hollenbaugh commented, “Context-dependent proteins offer a unique opportunity to manipulate biology in a targeted way that we could not otherwise accomplish. I am thankful to be part of this great team of scientists here at Good Therapeutics, applying the science and the technologies of proteins to create novel potential therapeutics for cancer and other areas of unmet need.”
Neela Patel, PhD
Neela Patel is a scientist and business development executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in drug discovery and development, project and portfolio management, and pipeline development through external innovation. Prior to joining Good Therapeutics, Dr. Patel served for five years as Executive Director of Corporate Development at Seagen, where she played an integral role in deal sourcing and execution of collaborations, licenses and acquisitions to build the pipeline, including agreements with Pieris and FivePrime. Previous to that, Dr. Patel’s sourcing and diligence work at AbbVie over the course of seven years resulted in more than twenty five executed deals including collaborations, licensing, and participation in consortia. Dr. Patel spent the first 16 years of her career in drug discovery with positions of increasing responsibility, advancing small molecules and biologics from target ID and validation through IND filing at Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, SUGEN/Pharmacia, and Roche Bioscience. Dr. Patel completed her post-doctoral training at the DNAX Research Institute after receiving her PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA.
Dr. Patel commented, “Good Therapeutics has the magic combination of an innovative platform technology, a strong pipeline, a promising lead product, and most importantly, an outstanding leadership team. Throughout the company, there is a dedication to creating drugs that will markedly improve the lives of patients. I am thrilled to be working with this team.”
About Good Therapeutics
Good Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the generation of a new class of drugs that offer potent activity only where it is needed. The company’s regulated, context-dependent molecules combine a sensor component directed against a specific marker with a therapeutic component that is active only when the sensor has bound its target. While Good Therapeutics’ technology is applicable to a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology, metabolic disorders, autoimmunity, and pain management, the company is currently developing a broad pipeline of drugs to address unmet needs in cancer, with an initial focus on regulated, context-dependent immunocytokines. The company’s lead program is a PD-1 regulated IL-2 molecule that specifically directs IL-2 activity to immune cells with the capacity to recognize tumor cells, without affecting non-target cells. The result is expected to be therapeutics with increased efficacy for a wider range of patients than those served by current checkpoint drugs.
A privately held company founded in 2016 and based in Seattle, Washington, Good Therapeutics is backed by a group of leading venture investors. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.goodtherapetics.com.
Contacts
Michelle Linn
Bioscribe, Inc.
michelle@bioscribe.com