FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dren Bio, Inc. (“Dren Bio” or the “Company”) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Amit Mehta, Ph.D., as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer. Dr. Mehta will be responsible for business development efforts, corporate strategy and leading the operational advancement and expansion of Dren Bio’s pipeline.
Dr. Mehta joins Dren Bio from Genentech, where he served as Vice President and Head of Business Development and was a core member of the Genentech Research and Early Development Leadership Team, Research Review Committee, and Early Stage Portfolio Committee. During his 18-year tenure at Genentech, Dr. Mehta held roles of increasing responsibility that spanned process development, manufacturing, strategy and business development. He led multiple high-performing teams that made significant contributions to numerous early and late-stage programs, helped shape disease area strategies and established vital external partnerships across technology platforms, personalized healthcare, and several therapeutic areas. Dr. Mehta earned a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Bangalore University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
“We are thrilled to welcome Amit as the newest member of Dren Bio’s leadership team,” said Nenad Tomasevic, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dren Bio. “Amit brings a wealth of drug development, business development and operational expertise that will be invaluable as Dren Bio rapidly advances its first-in-class DR-01 program into late-stage development, initiates first clinical studies with DR-0201 as the lead candidate from its novel Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform and expands its pipeline into multiple indications. Given our platform has the potential to establish a broad pipeline spanning various therapeutic areas, Amit’s vast experience will be critical in helping scale Dren Bio and advancing our pipeline either internally or through partnerships.”
Dr. Mehta commented, “I am incredibly excited to join a rapidly growing company with such a strong mission and innovative science. I have been impressed with the broad potential of Dren Bio’s current pipeline and its highly differentiated myeloid engager platform that can rapidly generate new molecules for the targeted depletion of pathologic cells and other disease-causing agents for a multitude of clinical applications. Dren Bio has made tremendous progress in such a short duration and I am eager to help the Company expand and extend the reach of its pipeline and platform to improve clinical outcomes for patients.”
About Dren Bio
Dren Bio is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the discovery and development of technologies for the selective depletion of pathologic cells, protein aggregates and other disease-causing agents. Dren Bio’s portfolio of innovative therapeutics includes DR-01, its first-in-class lead product candidate that depletes cytotoxic cells using cellular fratricide and is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 basket study for the treatment of large granular lymphocytic leukemia or cytotoxic lymphomas. In addition to DR-01, the Company has developed multiple programs using its proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform. A first-in-human study for the lead platform candidate, DR-0201, is scheduled to start in Q4 2023. Dren Bio is also in active preparations to expand its pipeline into multiple indications. Both DR-01 and the Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform are wholly owned and were developed by Dren Bio’s team having deep expertise in immunology and protein engineering. For more information about Dren Bio and its current development pipeline, please visit the Company’s website at www.drenbio.com.
