Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Appoints Tobin Schilke as Chief Financial Officer

On February 24, 2025 Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNX), reported the appointment of Tobin "Toby" Schilke as chief financial officer, effective February 28, 2025 (Press release, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, FEB 24, 2025, View Source [SID1234650469]). Mr. Schilke is a seasoned biopharma executive with over 25 years of global pharmaceutical experience. In prior roles, his leadership was instrumental in transforming several biotech companies from R&D-focused entities into fully integrated commercial organizations.

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"I am excited to welcome Toby to our senior leadership team during this transformational stage of our evolution into a global pharmaceutical company," said Scott Struthers, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Crinetics. "Toby’s deep finance experience in commercial-stage global pharmaceutical companies and emerging biotech is essential as we prepare for our first commercial launch and advance numerous promising candidates through development. I would also like to thank Marc Wilson for his invaluable leadership and financial stewardship during his tenure, guiding the company through critical phases of growth."

"I am honored to join Crinetics at such a pivotal time in the company’s journey and am deeply inspired by its mission to improve the lives of people living with endocrine-related conditions," said Mr. Schilke. "I look forward to collaborating with the Crinetics team and stakeholders to accelerate our growth objectives and create long-term value."

Prior to joining Crinetics, Mr. Schilke served as chief financial officer at Revance Therapeutics, where he oversaw finance, investor relations, IT, and technical operations for a public company with 650 employees, supporting the transformation to a commercial company with two product launches and over $700 million in cumulative revenue. Previously, Mr. Schilke served as Chief Financial Officer at Achaogen, where he built out the financial planning and analysis, accounting, procurement, information technology, and facilities management functions to support the approval and launch of the company’s first product. In these roles, Mr. Schilke successfully executed over $1.5 billion in equity, convertible debt, and structured debt financing, while also leading numerous partnerships and M&A deals. Earlier in his career, he spent more than a decade in increasing roles of responsibility at Roche/Genentech in corporate development, commercial finance, marketing and global operations. Mr. Schilke holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Lafayette College, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in business administration from Cornell University.

On March 10, 2025, the Company expects to grant Mr. Schilke 52,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) and a stock option to purchase 80,000 shares of common stock under the Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2021 Employment Inducement Incentive Award Plan (the "2021 Inducement Plan"). The shares subject to the stock options will vest over four years, with 25% of the shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the applicable vesting commencement date and the balance of the shares vesting in a series of 36 successive equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to each employee’s continued employment with Crinetics on such vesting dates. The RSUs will vest over four years in equal annual installments beginning on the one-year anniversary of the applicable vesting commencement date, also subject to each employee’s continued employment with Crinetics on such vesting dates. The stock option and RSU awards are subject to the terms and conditions of the 2021 Inducement Plan and the terms and conditions of an applicable stock option award agreement or RSU award agreement covering the respective grant. The RSUs and stock option will be granted as an inducement material to Mr. Schilke entering into employment with Crinetics in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

Coherus Management to Participate at the 45th Annual TD Cowen Health Care Conference

On February 24, 2025 Coherus BioSciences, Inc. ("Coherus," NASDAQ: CHRS) reported that senior management will participate in a fireside chat presentation at the 45th Annual TD Cowen Health Care Conference on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at 11:50 a.m., Eastern time (Press release, Coherus Biosciences, FEB 24, 2025, View Source [SID1234650468]). A live audio webcast will be accessible through a link posted on the "Events and Presentations" section of the Coherus’ investor website: View Source A replay of the presentation will be available on this same website for approximately 90 days.

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Celularity Enters Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Clinical Stage Cell Therapy Company

On February 24, 2025 Celularity Inc. (Nasdaq: CELU) ("Celularity" or the "Company"), a cellular and regenerative medicine company, reported that it has entered into a Master Services Collaboration Agreement with BlueSphere Bio, Inc. (BSB) covering manufacturing activities for certain BSB cell therapy products (Press release, Celularity, FEB 24, 2025, View Source [SID1234650467]). This collaboration is the second of its kind for Celularity and demonstrates the Company’s ability to leverage its world class cGMP manufacturing infrastructure and deep expertise to attract clients like BSB, who are seeking differentiated alternatives to manufacture their therapeutic products in an ever-changing landscape. This collaboration further evidences the revenue generating potential of Celularity’s assets.

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The Collaboration Agreement will initially focus on the production of BSB’s novel T cell receptor (TCR) T cell therapies using the technical and manufacturing capabilities at Celularity’s Florham Park, NJ, cGMP-ready facility. This collaboration will extend to all aspects of cell therapy manufacturing including Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), Quality Assurance and Quality Control. As part of this Collaboration, Celularity will dedicate staff and a small portion of its 37,000 square foot commercial manufacturing footprint. In coordination with Celularity management, BSB and its team will have oversight over production of its second cell therapy product for the treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) both in the U.S. and abroad.

Robert J. Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., Celularity CEO and Chair, said, "We are delighted to announce this important collaboration, which will bring together our core strengths in cell manufacturing, process development and BSB’s development of novel cell therapies to treat high risk leukemias. Celularity has invested significant capital in its manufacturing and development infrastructure, with a vision to not only support its own programs, but to create a collaborative business model for companies like BSB, to leverage Celularity’s technical capabilities. This new relationship with BSB further realizes that objective and helps set the stage for future clients seeking transformative alternatives for any GMP manufacturing needs."

Keir Loiacono, CEO of BlueSphere noted, "Reliable and flexible manufacturing are critical to a successful cell therapy program. The quality of Celularity’s business model and facility will provide BlueSphere with the necessary tools to advance our assets to the clinic in an affordable fashion, without relinquishing control over our processes. The team at Celularity has been welcoming and open to addressing all our needs, and we look forward to working with them."

Cellectis Presents ‘Smart CAR T’ Strategy to Enhance Efficacy Against Solid Tumors at AACR-IO 2025

On February 24, 2025 Cellectis (the "Company") (Euronext Growth: ALCLS – NASDAQ: CLLS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company using its pioneering gene-editing platform to develop life-saving cell and gene therapies, reported an innovative strategy for T cell engineering that leverages the pro-inflammatory properties of interleukin 2 (IL-2) with the objective to enhance CAR T cell efficacy against solid tumors, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) – Immuno-oncology (AACR-IO), taking place on February 23-26, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA (Press release, Cellectis, FEB 24, 2025, View Source [SID1234650466]).

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The data are presented in a poster:

CAR induced expression of synthetically engineered FAP-IL2v immunocytokine boosts persistent anti-tumor activity of TALEN-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells without associated IL-2 toxicity

Presenter: Shipra Das, Ph.D., Associate Director Immuno-Oncology, at Cellectis.

Date/Time: February 25, 2025, 1:45-4:45 p.m. PT

Session: Poster Session B

CAR T-cell therapies have transformed the treatment landscape for specific hematological malignancies and have shown promising preliminary efficacy in solid tumors.
Recent studies suggest a link between the in vivo expansion and persistence of CAR-T cells and enhanced therapeutic outcomes in patients. The co-administration of interleukin-2 (IL-2) has been demonstrated to improve CAR T-cell engraftment, expansion, and functionality in preclinical models but poses toxicity risks at high doses.
Using Cellectis’ TALEN gene editing technology, we developed ‘Smart CAR T cells’ with the ability to express a CAR-inducible IL-2 variant (IL-2v) immunocytokine, potentiated by tumor-specific cues for localized activity within the solid tumor microenvironment (TME).
CAR-inducible expression of this recombinant FAPscFv-IL2v boosts anti-tumor activity of engineered CAR T-cells both in vitro and in vivo. Notably, the enhancement of CAR T-cell activity mediated by IL-2v relies on its anchoring to the FAP protein, which is uniquely present in the TME, thus minimizing the systemic toxicity typically associated with circulating free IL-2 cytokines.
This proposed cellular engineering strategy would represent an effective and safe method to substantially improve CAR T cell expansion and anti-tumor activity, while confining IL-2 activity to the tumor microenvironment.

C4 Therapeutics to Participate in Upcoming March Investor Conferences

On February 24, 2025 C4 Therapeutics, Inc. (C4T) (Nasdaq: CCCC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing targeted protein degradation science, reported that C4T management will participate in two upcoming March investor conferences (Press release, C4 Therapeutics, FEB 24, 2025, View Source [SID1234650465]).

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TD Cowen 45th Annual Healthcare Conference:
Management will present on March 3rd at 9:10 am ET in Boston, MA. The live webcast will be available on the Events & Presentations page of the company’s website. The archived replay of the webcast will be available for approximately 30 days following the live event.
Leerink Partners Global Healthcare Conference:
Management will participate in the conference on March 9th in Miami, FL.