Audeo Oncology, Inc. (Audeo) announces today the appointment of Leigh Bonney, Susan Kelley and David U’Prichard to its Board of Directors.
The backgrounds of the new appointees are summarized below.
Leigh Bonney, has held senior positions in strategy and finance in the healthcare industry for much of her career, including 15 years at Pfizer, from which she retired in 2011. Leigh served as Chief Financial Officer of Pfizer Global Research and Development among other positions at the Company. Prior to Pfizer, Leigh worked for McKinsey and Company, where she served as a consultant for clients within a number of industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Leigh is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Leigh has an MBA from Harvard and a BA and MA from Yale and Stanford, respectively. Leigh has agreed to chair the Audit Committee of Audeo.
Susan Kelley, MD, is a medical oncologist who has held fellowships at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School and Yale School of Medicine. Susan has held senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry such as Vice President, Global Strategic Drug Development, Oncology and Metabolics with Bayer-Schering Pharmaceuticals, and Therapeutic Area Head-Oncology with Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Susan has agreed to Chair the Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee of Audeo.
David U’Prichard, PhD, has had an extensive career in the management of drug discovery and development and currently advises life sciences companies as President of Druid Consulting LLC. Previously, David served as CEO of 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals. In addition, David held the positions of President and Chairman of Research and Development for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Executive Vice President and International Research Director and Member of the Board and Management of Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. David has agreed to Chair the Compensation Committee of Audeo.
Commenting on the appointments, Stephen Hill, Chairman of Audeo, stated, “We are extremely pleased and very fortunate to be joined by individuals with deep experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Leigh, Susan, and David will bring comprehensive expertise across finance, corporate strategy, oncology, drug discovery, and clinical development.”
About Audeo Oncology, Inc.
Audeo is a late stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on utilizing its Hyaluronic Acid Chemotransport Technology (“HyACT”) to target cancer drugs preferentially to tumor cells to enhance drug activity. The company’s lead HyACT product candidate, HA-Irinotecan, is currently in a pivotal Phase III clinical trial for metastatic colorectal cancer and an investigator-sponsored Phase II clinical trial for small cell lung cancer. Two of the Company’s other HyACT product candidates have successfully completed Phase I clinical trials. Audeo has also in-licensed the Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates (“VAST”) small molecule drug discovery platform, which it plans to utilize to research and develop new anti-cancer drug candidates. Current VAST programs include allosteric modulation of family B G-protein coupled receptors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and type II diabetes, as well as opioid receptor agonists and ion channel inhibitors for pain.
