CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the appointment of Frank Lee as Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Lee has over 25 years of global experience in biopharmaceutical product development and commercial leadership across a wide range of therapeutic areas, including solid tumor oncology.

“We are pleased to welcome Frank as Chair of our Board,” said Alvin Shih, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “Frank has an impressive track record of leadership in biopharmaceutical organizations at growth stages, including new product launches. His extensive experience advancing breakthrough treatments in cancer markets will be invaluable to Catamaran as we advance our pipeline of off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to bring a new class of cell therapies to patients.”

“I am honored to serve as Chair of Catamaran’s Board and look forward to working with an impressive team to help advance Catamaran’s allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies toward the clinic,” said Mr. Lee. “This is a very exciting time in the cell therapy field, and I’m eager to share my expertise to support Catamaran’s mission to realize the full potential of CAR-NK cell therapies to provide new treatment options for cancer patients.”

Mr. Lee is Chief Executive Officer of Forma Therapeutics and has more than 25 years of global experience in product development and commercial leadership across a wide range of therapeutic areas. He served as senior vice president, global product strategy, and therapeutic area head for the immunology, ophthalmology, and infectious diseases at Genentech. At Genentech, he also served as vice president of the HER2/Breast Cancer Franchise, which included Herceptin^®, Perjeta^® and Kadcyla^®. As vice president of oral oncolytics, Mr. Lee held P&L responsibility for Tarceva^®, Zelboraf^®, Erivedge^® and Xeloda^®. Prior to joining Genentech, he spent approximately thirteen years at Novartis, Janssen and Eli Lilly in various engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing and business development roles. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. Mr. Lee also serves on the board of directors of Bolt Biotherapeutics Inc.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND™ platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and the UMN Discovery Capital investment program. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.

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