ROCHESTER, Minn., December 11, 2019 – Vyriad, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oncolytic virus therapies to treat a wide range of cancers, today announced the appointment of experienced life sciences investors Edwin M. Kania, Jr. and Nathan L. Stacy to the Company’s board of directors. Mr. Kania was named Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Kania is the managing partner of FarField Partners, a personal investment and advisory firm, and the co-founder and former Chairman of Flagship Ventures (now Flagship Pioneering), one of the largest venture capital firms launching and investing in U.S. biotechnology companies. He continues as co-managing partner for three of the original Flagship Funds and as an advisory partner to the firm. During his 35 years in the venture capital industry, Mr. Kania has taken an active role in the launch and development of numerous biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies.
Mr. Stacy is a Senior Investment Officer at Mayo Clinic Treasury Services, with responsibility for managing a broad portfolio of private equity, venture capital and direct healthcare investments. Mr. Stacy also serves on the advisory board for multiple private investment funds. Through his current role that includes work with Mayo Clinic Ventures, the commercialization arm of the non-profit organization, Mr. Stacy has been involved in the spinout and financing of numerous life science technologies from Mayo Clinic. Before joining Mayo Clinic, he held positions at Corixa Corporation, Lewin Group and the Congressional Budget Office. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s degree from the University of Washington.
“Ed and Nathan bring extensive business, finance and biotech experience that will be invaluable to Vyriad as we advance and expand our drug development pipeline and secure additional capital in the future,” said Stephen Russell, M.D., Ph.D., Vyriad President and Chief Executive Officer. “Ed is an ideal choice to lead our board. He has a keen understanding of all aspects of pharmaceutical development and the biopharmaceutical industry, which will enable him to provide strong leadership and oversight to Vyriad.”
Prior to co-founding Flagship in 2000, Mr. Kania spent 17 years as a general partner at OneLiberty Ventures and, earlier, at Morgan, Holland Ventures. He has served on the boards of 2
numerous public and private companies, including Acceleron Pharma, Adolor Corp., Anesta Corp., Aspect Medical, ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, Cytyc Corp., EXACT Sciences, IDEXX Laboratories, PerSeptive Biosystems, Somatogen and Visterra. In addition to Vyriad, Mr. Kania is currently a director for Health Data Analytics Institute, Korrus/EcoSense, DataCore and TransMedics. He is also an advisory board member for Ashford Capital, a long-term investor in rapidly growing, pre-institutionalized public companies. Mr. Kania received a master’s degree from Harvard Business School and bachelor’s degree in Physics from Dartmouth College.
About Vyriad, Inc.
Vyriad is a clinical-stage company developing virus-based therapeutics, focusing initially on proprietary oncolytic virus therapies for the treatment of cancers with significant unmet needs. Founded by scientists at Mayo Clinic and the University of Miami, Vyriad programs viruses to selectively attack cancer cells, thereby igniting antitumor immune responses that can complete the process of tumor destruction and prevent disease recurrence. Our lead platforms, derived from either vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or measles virus, are being evaluated in ongoing Phase 1-2 clinical trials addressing multiple cancer types. Vyriad and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) recently entered into a broad-based strategic agreement for the discovery and development of new oncolytic virus treatments for cancer leveraging Vyriad’s VSV platform and Regeneron’s PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo® (cemiplimab-rwlc) as well as its unmatched antibody discovery capabilities. Vyriad is a privately held company based in Rochester, Minnesota. For more information, visit www.vyriad.com.
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