SAN LEANDRO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rainier Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held clinical stage drug
development company, today announced the appointment of Gary
Christianson, PE, as Chief Technical Officer.
Mr. Christianson brings more than 30 years of industry experience in
commercial product development, technical operations and manufacturing
at companies including Corixa, GlaxoSmithKline, Cascadian Therapeutics
and Nohla Therapeutics.
“Gary’s breadth of industry experience in clinical and commercial
manufacturing will be invaluable to Rainier as we advance vofatamab in
the metastatic and non-metastatic bladder cancer setting,” said Scott
Myers, Chairman and CEO of Rainier Therapeutics. “We are excited to
welcome Gary to the Rainier team.”
Mr. Christianson most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at
Nohla Therapeutics. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer
at Cascadian Therapeutics since 2007. Cascadian Therapeutics was
acquired by Seattle Genetics in March 2018. Prior to his role at
Cascadian, Mr. Christianson served as the site director for
GlaxoSmithKline’s Biologics Unit following its acquisition of Corixa
Corp. From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Christianson held positions as vice
president, technical operations and general manager overseeing
manufacturing and commercial product development. Prior to Corixa, Mr.
Christianson served for 12 years overseeing manufacturing and site
operations at RIBI ImmunoChem Research, a biopharmaceutical company
developing late-stage adjuvant technology. Mr. Christianson received a
B.S. in mechanical engineering technology from Montana State University.
About Rainier Therapeutics
Rainier Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately-held, clinical stage
biotechnology company developing a targeted biologic for the potential
treatment of metastatic bladder cancer. The company’s antibody,
vofatamab (formerly B-701) is focused specifically on the fibroblast
growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3), a known driver of bladder and other
cancers. Vofatamab is the most advanced targeted antibody specific for
FGFR3 known by Rainier Therapeutics to be in clinical development.
Vofatamab is currently being evaluated in two clinical trials: FIERCE-21
and FIERCE-22.
The Fierce 21 trial is evaluating vofatamab alone and in combination
with docetaxel versus docetaxel alone to determine safety and efficacy
in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder
cancer with FGFR3 mutant/fusion who have relapsed after, or are
refractory to, at least one prior line of chemotherapy. For more on this
trial, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov
(NCT0240542).
The Fierce 22 trial is evaluating vofatamab in combination with
pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, to determine safety,
tolerability and efficacy in the treatment of patients with locally
advanced or metastatic bladder cancer, who have progressed following
platinum-based chemotherapy and who have not received prior immune
checkpoint inhibitor therapy. For more on this trial, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov
(NCT03123055).
Rainier Therapeutics also plans to study vofatamab in non-muscle
invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) – the FIERCE-23 trial.
For more information, please visit www.rainierrx.com.
Contacts
Julie Rathbun
Rathbun Communications
(206) 769-9291
julie@rathbuncomm.com