TetraGenetics Appoints Alison Taunton-Rigby, Ellen Baron and Daniel Grau to its Board of Directors
May 2, 2019
Biopharma and Investment Executives with Deep Industry Experience to
Support Continued Growth of TetraGenetics Ion Channel Pipeline and
Platform
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TetraGenetics,
a biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody therapeutics for
ion-channel mediated disorders, announced today the addition of three
new board members: Alison Taunton-Rigby Ph.D., OBE, Ellen Baron Ph.D.
and Daniel Grau M. Phil.
CEO and Chairman of TetraGenetics, Doug Kahn said, “I’m pleased to
welcome Drs. Taunton-Rigby, Baron and Daniel Grau to our board. They
bring a host of experience and industry knowledge from lab-based drug
discovery to financing and governance. I know they will contribute in
many substantive ways to TetraGenetics’ continued growth and
development.”
Dr. Taunton-Rigby is a well-known executive, leader and entrepreneur in
the world of healthcare, life sciences and financial services. She has
served as a Director on a number of public, private, college,
foundation, non-profit, ESOP and mutual fund boards, and currently sits
on the boards of Blumont Inc., the International Women’s Leadership
Foundation, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Taunton-Rigby has served
as President and CEO of several public and private biotechnology
companies including Mitotix, Cambridge Biotech Corporation, and Aquila
Biopharmaceuticals, and held senior executive positions at Biogen,
Genzyme and other life science companies.
Dr. Baron is an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech executive,
investment banker, and venture capitalist, who currently focuses on
providing strategic advice, capital financings and merger and
acquisition direction to emerging growth companies in the healthcare
sector.
She brings to the TetraGenetics board an extensive background in
corporate development, venture capital, angel investing, financings,
mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and product
development/commercialization for pharmaceuticals and biotherapeutics.
Dr. Baron is a Managing Director at Outcome Capital, a strategic
investment banking firm serving the life science and technology sectors.
Previously, Dr. Baron was a Managing Director at Healthios Capital
Markets, a Chicago-based investment bank and was a Partner at Oxford
Bioscience Partners, a healthcare venture capital firm.
Daniel Grau, M.Phil., is an experienced biopharma entrepreneur and
operating executive. He currently serves as President, Chief Executive
Officer, and Director at Sojournix and an advisor to HotSpot
Therapeutics. Previously Mr. Grau served as President at Heptares
Therapeutics, Chief Executive Officer at Cortria, and Chief Operating
Officer at CombinatoRx, and was a member of the Product Advisory Board
at Concert Pharmaceuticals and a business advisor to Nimbus Therapeutics.
“I have been following the progress at TetraGenetics for some time and
have been watching their evolution as a pioneer in antibody therapeutics
to clinically relevant ion-channels. I look forward to working with CEO
Doug Kahn and his team as well as other members of the Board. I believe
my solid understanding of the global healthcare environment will be
highly complimentary to the existing board,” noted Dr. Baron.
Dr. Taunton-Rigby added, “TetraGenetics is an exciting company that is
on the forefront of a new field of drug discovery. I am particularly
excited by the company’s unique and focused approach to developing
biologics that target ion channel membrane proteins. Ion channel targets
are well validated and associated with many treated and currently
untreated disorders. It would be challenging to find a more exciting
group of potential development candidates.”
“I’ve been intrigued by TetraGenetics’ unique drug discovery
capabilities since I first met the company while President of Heptares,”
said Mr. Grau. “The company’s strong business development track record
evidences clearly that big pharma is turning to TetraGenetics as a
leading science and technology platform for antibody drug development
against difficult membrane targets.”
Dr. Baron, Dr. Taunton-Rigby and Mr. Grau join TetraGenetics’ current
board members; Theodore Clark, PhD, Robert Gailus, Douglas Kahn, Peter
Kiener, PhD, and Christopher Taron, PhD.
About TetraGenetics: TetraGenetics
is focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class biologic
medicines for autoimmune diseases, oncology and pain. The company has
the leading drug discovery platform (TetraExpress™) for identifying
antibodies targeting ion channels and other transmembrane proteins.
TetraGenetics is actively building a proprietary drug pipeline and
working collaboratively with major biotech companies for antibody drug
discovery. For more information, please visit: www.tetragenetics.com.
Contacts
Suzanne Gibbons-Neff
[email protected]
203-858-1325