CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Relay Therapeutics, a biotech company dedicated to developing breakthrough medicines by leveraging insights from protein motion, today announced the appointments of Don Bergstrom, M.D., Ph.D. as Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development, Brian Adams as General Counsel, and Tom Catinazzo as Vice President of Finance.
“We welcome Don, Brian, and Tom to the senior team at Relay Therapeutics. These seasoned leaders will help us to deliver transformational therapies using our novel integrated experimental and computational platform,” said Sanjiv Patel, M.D., Chief Executive Officer. “We will continue to grow and add team members as our portfolio matures towards clinical development, and anticipate a move to our new headquarters in late 2018.”
Prior to joining Relay, Dr. Bergstrom was Chief Medical Officer at Mersana Therapeutics, where he led the advancement of two oncology products based on Mersana’s proprietary antibody-drug conjugate platform through non-clinical development and into Phase 1 clinical trials. Prior to Mersana, he was Global Head of Translational and Experimental Medicine at Sanofi Oncology. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Bergstrom held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck Research Laboratories, culminating in his role as Oncology Franchise Lead, Experimental Medicine. Dr. Bergstrom received an M.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle and a Ph.D. from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he also completed post-doctoral training. He was a resident in clinical pathology at the University of Washington.
Brian Adams joins Relay Therapeutics as General Counsel, bringing more than 15 years of legal and business management experience within the life sciences. Mr. Adams joins the company from Keryx Biopharmaceuticals where he served as SVP, General Counsel & Secretary. Prior to Keryx, Mr. Adams held roles in Algeta ASA, AVEO Oncology, and Genzyme Corporation. Before joining Genzyme, Mr. Adams practiced at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where he advised private equity sponsors, biotech and other emerging technology companies on a broad range of corporate matters and financing transactions. Mr. Adams received a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law.
New Vice President of Finance Tom Catinazzo joins the Relay Therapeutics team from Foundation Medicine, where he was most recently Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis responsible for over-seeing all aspects of the business planning function. Mr. Catinazzo brings over 12 years of extensive experience in the biotechnology field having worked at Aileron Therapeutics and Genzyme Corporation supporting both the Renal and Personalized Genetic Health Division. Mr. Catinazzo received his B.S. from Boston College.
About Relay Therapeutics
Relay Therapeutics is committed to discovering and developing medicines that will make a transformative difference for patients by building the first dedicated drug discovery pipeline centered on protein motion. Bringing together the latest scientific advances in structural biology, biophysics, computation, chemistry and biology, Relay’s drug discovery engine illuminates the full mobility of a protein and the ways in which protein motion regulates function. By applying this approach and by focusing on disease-causing targets, Relay aims to develop breakthrough medicines for patients in need. The company’s initial programs are focused on developing therapeutics in oncology. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Relay Therapeutics is a private company launched in 2016 and has raised $120 million in financing to date from Third Rock Ventures, BVF Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Casdin Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Section 32, Alexandria Venture Investments, and an affiliate of D. E. Shaw Research.
