PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of Michael Christiano to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. In this role, Mr. Christiano will be responsible for expanding key strategic and financial partnerships and collaborations, as well as pursuing both in- and out-licensing opportunities, to support the rapid development of novel T cell therapies by Tmunity.
“Michael will help strengthen our vital interconnectedness with the global cell therapy community,” said Carl H. June, MD, co-founder and chief scientific advisor of Tmunity Therapeutics. “His background in this specialized area gives him a unique ability to structure mutually-beneficial, translational collaborations that accelerate individual development programs while advancing the entire field.”
“The complementary skill set and extensive industry relationships that Michael brings to our management team will help Tmunity attract the kind of deal flow that keeps us in the vanguard of cell therapy,” said Usman “Oz” Azam, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tmunity. “Michael shares our vision for the potential of T cell medicine and we are all very excited to work with him again.”
Mr. Christiano has nearly 20 years of corporate development and transactional experience in the life sciences industry, contributing to company-building efforts in both start-up biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. During this period, he led the design and negotiation of transformative license and collaboration agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and early-stage equity investments in promising start-up companies. Most recently, Mr. Christiano was Vice President and Head of Transactions in Global Business Development and Licensing (BD&L) at Novartis AG. Joining Novartis in 2010, he also held the Head of Transactions role for Novartis' Cell & Gene Therapies Unit and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. While at Novartis, Mr. Christiano played an instrumental role in establishing many strategically important and innovative transactions across Novartis' cell and gene portfolio, including alliances with the University of Pennsylvania (CAR-T) and Intellia Therapeutics (CRISPR). His transactions leadership was recognized through Novartis’ President’s, Innovation and Team awards. Prior to Novartis, he held a series of increasingly senior BD&L positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Takeda); AVEO Oncology, from its start-up to IPO; and as co-founder of Karyopharm Therapeutics. Mr. Christiano is a graduate of Virginia Tech and Cornell University.
About Tmunity Therapeutics
Tmunity Therapeutics is a private biotherapeutics company focused on saving and improving lives by delivering the full potential of next-generation T cell immunotherapy to patients with devastating diseases. Integrating broad collaborations with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the University of Minnesota with the groundbreaking scientific, clinical and manufacturing expertise and demonstrated track record of its founders, Tmunity represents a new center of gravity in translational T cell medicine. The company is developing a diversified portfolio of novel treatments that exhibit best-in-class control over T cell activation and direction in the body. These personalized next-generation immunotherapies for cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disease are advancing rapidly toward the clinic. With headquarters in Philadelphia, Tmunity utilizes laboratories and production facilities at UPenn and its own dedicated cGMP manufacturing facility in Norristown, PA, to pursue process improvement and production scale-up in support of clinical development of T cell therapies. For more information, visit www.tmunity.com.
