SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kite Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: KITE) today announced the appointment of Jian Irish, Ph.D. as the company’s Senior Vice President of Supply Chain. The appointment of Dr. Irish, who will be responsible for establishing and securing a reliable supply chain, including sourcing, logistics, inventory management, procurement, supply and operations planning process, further increases the depth of an industry-leading cell therapy Supply Chain organization.
“Jian brings a wealth of supply chain and product development experience to Kite, as well as extensive international business acumen,” said Tim Moore, Executive Vice President, Technical Operations of Kite. “Her willingness to embrace new opportunities to innovate, coupled with her ability to partner and cultivate talent, makes Jian a great addition to the Technical Operations senior leadership team.”
Dr. Irish will work closely with both the commercial and technical operations organization to create operational strategies for supply chain design, product life cycle management, launch and commercialization as the company prepares for the potential approval of Kite’s lead product candidate, KTE-C19, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Coming from a family of medical doctors, I learned from a very young age to appreciate the power that medicine has to change lives,” said Dr. Irish. “I am excited to be a part of Kite, a company that is increasingly recognized for its leadership in CAR-T therapy as well as its drive to find a cure for cancer. I look forward to partnering with a stellar team of experienced professionals who have a common commitment to excellence at every level.”
Dr. Irish established her career in the biopharmaceutical industry through various global leadership roles. She joins Kite from Sanofi, where she most recently served as the Vice President of Biologics Strategic Supply, Sourcing and Partnerships. She also served as Vice President of Biologics Product Development Technology Transfer at Sanofi. In these roles, Dr. Irish oversaw the strategy and execution of the Biologics supply chain and technical transfer processes to scale up Sanofi Biological operations. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Irish was the Executive Director, General Manager of Japan Asia Pacific Supply Chain at Amgen as well as the Executive Director, Global Head of Contract Manufacturing where Dr. Irish made a critical impact in the commercialization of Vectibix®, Xgeva®, and Enbrel®.
Dr. Irish holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China, a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Chiba University in Chiba, Japan, and a Master of Business Administration from the Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles.
About KTE-C19
Kite Pharma's lead product candidate, KTE-C19, is an investigational therapy in which a patient's T cells are engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to target the antigen CD19, a protein expressed on the cell surface of B-cell lymphomas and leukemias, and redirect the T cells to kill cancer cells. KTE-C19 has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation status for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), transformed follicular lymphoma (TFL), and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Priority Medicines (PRIME) regulatory support for DLBCL in the EU.
About Kite Pharma
Kite Pharma, Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of novel cancer immunotherapy products, with a primary focus on engineered autologous cell therapy (eACT™) designed to restore the immune system's ability to recognize and eradicate tumors. Kite is based in Santa Monica, CA. For more information on Kite Pharma, please visit www.kitepharma.com. Sign up to follow @KitePharma on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kitepharma.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the ability and timing of filing a biologics license application with the FDA, obtaining regulatory approval based on the studies of KTE-C19, commercially launching KTE-C19, and the ability to establish and secure a reliable supply chain for KTE-C19. Various factors may cause differences between Kite's expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail in Kite's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2016. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Kite assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
