WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blend Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering new classes of medicines to treat cancer, announced today that it has appointed Dennis A. Ausiello, MD, to the company’s Board of Directors. With deep experience and a distinguished record of leadership and accomplishment in medicine and scientific research, Dr. Ausiello brings a seasoned and unique perspective to support Blend’s continued growth and advancement as an innovative oncology drug developer.
“We are privileged to expand our Board of Directors to include Dr. Ausiello, an international leader in academic medicine, with insights in the translation of scientific discoveries to developing new medicines,” said Omid Farohkzad, MD, Founder and Chairman of Blend Therapeutics and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. “Denny’s exceptional understanding of how innovative medicines fit into clinical practice will be a tremendous asset to Blend as the company advances a new class of miniaturized biologic drug conjugates with the Pentarin platform and aims to make a significant impact for cancer patients.”
“Blend is uniquely positioned to break new ground with its next generation of biological drug conjugates with the potential to bring an innovative treatment approach for cancer patients,” commented Dr. Ausiello. “I look forward to sharing my insights and experiences with the leadership team at Blend as they advance the company’s promising pipeline of drug candidates designed to improve the treatment of cancer.”
As Physician-in-Chief, Emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dr. Ausiello led one of the strongest Department of Medicine in the country from 1996 until 2013, where he managed an annual clinical, research and education budget exceeding $500 million. He is currently the Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health (CATCH), an organization he founded to bridge science and technology across MGH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and industry partners to discover and apply new ways to quantitatively measure biomarkers of health and disease. Dr. Ausiello is closely involved with Partners HealthCare, linking the resources of MGH, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to provide comprehensive health care. He was President of the Association of American Physicians in 2006 and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also serves in a variety of advisory roles beyond his academic affiliations. Dr. Ausiello serves on the Board of Directors of Pfizer, Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and TARIS Biomedical, Inc. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
About Blend Therapeutics
Blend Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with an innovative platform for creating novel cancer therapies designed to overcome the biological barriers that limit the effectiveness of many cancer medicines today. At the center of the company’s drug development is its proprietary Pentarin platform, which creates novel, miniaturized biologic drug conjugates (mBDCs) encapsulated into patented nanoparticles. Blend’s pipeline includes its lead drug candidate, BTP-114, a novel, personalized cisplatin prodrug derived from the company’s R&D heritage in platinum drugs, which is expected to enter the clinic in mid-2015. In addition, BTP-277 is the first in a series of Pentarins that Blend is developing as a proprietary drug candidate, and Blend anticipates applying the Pentarin platform using the targeting protein scaffolds of pharmaceutical collaborators. The company was founded by three leaders in the fields of chemistry and nanomedicine from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH)–Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): Dr. Omid Farokhzad of BWH–HMS, and Dr. Robert Langer and Dr. Stephen J. Lippard of MIT. Blend has attracted top-tier investors including Eminent Venture Capital, Flagship Ventures, NanoDimension, and New Enterprise Associates. For more information, visit www.blendtx.com.
