Symic Appoints Seema Kantak, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Symic, a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company developing multiple compounds that target and affect the extracellular matrix (ECM), today announced the appointment of Seema Kantak, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer.

"Seema has an impressive track-record of scientific and operational success in biotechnology and pharmaceutical discovery," said Ken Horne, Chief Executive Officer of Symic. "As CSO, she will be responsible for leading Symic's discovery and preclinical research efforts. With the closing of our A-2 financing, we are well positioned to both advance our two lead candidates through clinical development and to focus in parallel on the identification of promising pipeline candidates targeting and affecting the extracellular matrix."

Symic's primary technology was developed at the Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in the laboratory of Alyssa Panitch, Ph.D., the Leslie A. Geddes Professor of Biomedical Engineering and a founder and scientific advisory board member of Symic.

Dr. Panitch said, "Seema has significant experience leading R&D efforts from target identification to early clinical development, and we are pleased that Seema has joined the Symic team at this exciting time for the company."

Dr. Kantak brings over 16 years of experience in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research and development to Symic. Prior to joining Symic, Dr. Kantak was Vice President of Research and Preclinical Development at Nektar Therapeutics where she was responsible for global projects in oncology, inflammation and pain and was team lead for a biologics program in immuno-oncology. She was also Site Head of Nektar India and was instrumental in establishing a high performance R&D organization in India. Prior to that, Dr. Kantak led Pharmacology, Translational Research & Clinical Biomarker Strategy at XOMA and contributed to several antibody programs from discovery to IND in multiple strategic alliances with pharmaceutical partners. Dr. Kantak previously held leadership positions ay Celera Therapeutics and Axys Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Kantak received her Ph.D. in cancer biology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and completed her postdoctoral work at UCSF. Dr. Kantak also holds a M.S. in biology from Wayne State University and a M.S. in biophysics from Bombay University.

About Symic

Symic is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company developing multiple compounds that target and affect the extracellular matrix (ECM), the non-cellular component of tissues that is critical for healthy tissue function. Components of the ECM, particularly proteoglycans, which are important structural and functional macromolecules native to the ECM, play a critical role in healing following injury and in chronic diseases. Symic's proprietary compounds function like proteoglycans, and have been designed to promote healing and repair in a variety of disease states. SB-030 is Symic's lead compound under evaluation in the Phase 1/2 SHIELD clinical trial for vascular endothelial injury.

Symic is based in San Francisco. For additional information, please visit the company's website at http://www.symic.bio or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/symicbio and LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/symic-bio/.

Media Contacts

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SOURCE Symic

Related Links

http://www.symic.bio