Cabaletta Bio Strengthens Executive Leadership Team with Promotions of Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D. to President of Science and Technology and Arun Das, M.D. to Chief Business Officer
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cabaletta Bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: CABA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of engineered T cell therapies for patients with B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, today announced the promotions of Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D. to President of Science and Technology and Arun Das, M.D. to Chief Business Officer. In these new roles, Dr. Binder and Dr. Das will continue to report to Steven Nichtberger, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Cabaletta.
“Shortly after the founding of Cabaletta, Gwen and Arun joined the leadership team and became essential thought partners influencing the formation of our strategic plans while building and leading key aspects of our operations in the context of strong team-based culture within a business model focused on advancing potential cures for patients with B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases,” said Dr. Nichtberger. “Gwen is a proven leader in engineered T cell therapy, leading our preclinical, translational, manufacturing and quality teams. In her elevated position as President of Science and Technology, with the recently announced promotions of our Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, we look forward to leveraging her expertise for broader strategic insight and leadership. Arun has made key strategic contributions to the business, including establishing many of the collaborations in our network of academic and industry partners. In his new role as Chief Business Officer, we look forward to drawing from his broad set of capabilities, experience and relationships as we continue our efforts to develop meaningful therapies for the patients that motivate our work and inspire us as a team.”
Dr. Binder was one of Cabaletta’s first employees, joining in February 2019, and was most recently Executive Vice President of Science and Technology. At Cabaletta, she established and currently leads the preclinical, translational, manufacturing and quality teams. In addition to her position at Cabaletta, she serves on the Board of Directors of Instil Bio, Inc., a company developing tumor infiltrating lymphocytes for cancer immunotherapy, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Immatics N.V., which is developing engineered T cell immunotherapy for cancer. Prior to joining Cabaletta, Dr. Binder was the Chief Technology Officer of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, where she led the research team after establishing the U.S. arm of the company and building the early manufacturing, quality and translational research teams, including providing oversight on the build out of a commercial scale cell therapy manufacturing facility. Earlier in her career, Dr. Binder served as Director of Operations for the Translational Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she progressed multiple Investigational New Drug application (“IND”) submissions for novel engineered T cell therapies in human immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”) and oncology, including the CD19 CAR IND acquired by Novartis (now Kymriah®), the first human gene editing IND, and three TCR engineered T cell therapy studies in oncology and HIV. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Scientific Affairs at VIRxSYS Corporation in Gaithersburg, Maryland where she supported the development of the first clinical lentiviral vector used in humans, for the application of engineered T cell therapy for HIV. Dr. Binder studied viral immunology and translational research at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland where she earned a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. She has authored over 30 publications in the field, including top international journals such as Science and Nature Medicine. She is a recognized leader in the biotechnology sector for the translational and clinical advancement of novel T cell therapies for patients with serious diseases.
Dr. Das joined Cabaletta in July 2019 and was most recently Executive Director of New Product Planning and Business Development before assuming his new role as Chief Business Officer. Prior to joining Cabaletta, Dr. Das was a resident physician in General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Previously, he was an investment banking analyst within the healthcare group at Goldman Sachs. In addition, Dr. Das has spent multiple years consulting in business development and operations for several start-ups in the biotechnology space. Dr. Das received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a B.A. and B.S. dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
About Cabaletta Bio
Cabaletta Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of engineered T cell therapies, and exploring their potential to provide a deep and durable, perhaps curative, treatment, for patients with B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. The Cabaletta Approach to selective B cell Ablation (CABA™) platform, in combination with Cabaletta’s proprietary technology, utilizes CAAR T cells that are designed to selectively bind and eliminate only specific autoantibody-producing B cells while sparing normal antibody-producing B cells, which are essential for human health. The Company’s lead product candidate, DSG3-CAART, is being evaluated in the DesCAARTes™ Phase 1 clinical trial as a potential treatment for patients with mucosal pemphigus vulgaris, a prototypical B cell-mediated autoimmune disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track Designation for DSG3-CAART in May 2020. For more information about the DesCAARTes™ Phase 1 clinical trial, please visit our website (DesCAARTes™ Phase 1 Trial). The Company’s MuSK-CAART product candidate is designed as a potential treatment for patients with MuSK-associated myasthenia gravis. For more information, visit www.cabalettabio.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” of Cabaletta Bio within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including without limitation, express or implied statements regarding expectations regarding: the company’s business plans and objectives; the expectation that Cabaletta Bio may improve outcomes for patients suffering from mPV; the ability to accelerate Cabaletta’s pipeline and develop meaningful therapies for patients, including in collaboration with academic and industry partners; and the anticipated contribution of the members of Cabaletta’s executives to the company’s operations and progress.
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs of future events, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that signs of biologic activity may not inform long-term results; Cabaletta’s ability to demonstrate sufficient evidence of safety, efficacy and tolerability in its preclinical and clinical trials of DSG3-CAART; risks related to clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected; risks related to unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during clinical studies; risks related to the impact of public health epidemics affecting countries or regions in which Cabaletta has operations or does business, such as COVID-19; Cabaletta’s ability to retain and recognize the intended incentives conferred by Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation for DSG3-CAART for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris; risks related to Cabaletta’s ability to protect and maintain its intellectual property position; uncertainties related to the initiation and conduct of studies and other development requirements for its product candidates; and the risk that the results of preclinical studies or clinical studies will not be predictive of future results in connection with future studies. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Cabaletta’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Cabaletta’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Cabaletta’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Cabaletta undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.
Contacts:
Anup Marda
Chief Financial Officer
investors@cabalettabio.com
Sarah McCabe
Stern Investor Relations, Inc.
sarah.mccabe@sternir.com
