Bolt Biotherapeutics Expands Scientific Advisory Board with Appointment of Dr. Priti Hegde

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc., a private biotechnology company focused on using its Immune-Stimulating Antibody Conjugate (ISAC) platform technology to unleash the power of the immune system to treat cancer, today announced the addition of Priti Hegde, Ph.D., to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Hegde, who currently serves as chief scientific officer at Foundation Medicine, Inc., has spent nearly two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry and has extensive experience with the development, registration and commercialization of therapeutics in cancer immunotherapy.

"Dr. Hegde's expertise in cancer immunotherapy drug development will be invaluable as we begin our first clinical study this year and continue to expand our pipeline of innovative myeloid-targeting therapies," stated David Dornan, Ph.D., Bolt's senior vice president of Research. "We have been fortunate that our strong preclinical data and growing team have attracted a world renowned scientific advisory board, and with the addition of Dr. Hegde, we know that their collective wisdom will assist in expediting our ISACs toward those cancer patients unresponsive to checkpoint inhibitors."

"Bolt's novel ISAC technology and mechanistic understanding of anti-tumor efficacy provides a real scientific advantage to target patients that are unresponsive to immune checkpoint blockade. Having dedicated a significant portion of my career to the field of immunotherapies, this technology registers as one of the most exciting approaches at systemically delivering an agent that has a local immune-stimulating effect at the tumor," stated Dr. Hegde. "I'm thrilled by this opportunity to join Bolt's SAB and look forward to helping the team drive this important technology through clinical development."

At Foundation Medicine, Dr. Hegde currently oversees clinical product development, cancer genomics and early-stage research, as well as regulatory strategies for the company's comprehensive genomic profiling portfolio. Prior to joining Foundation Medicine, Dr. Hegde spent 12 years at Genentech, a member of Roche Group, most recently serving as senior director and principal scientist in oncology biomarker development, during which she established and led the biomarker group accountable for translational science strategies in cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Hegde was instrumental in the approvals for atezolizumab in both the United States and European Union as well as its forthcoming diagnostic filings. Prior to Genentech, she worked at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Hegde completed her post-doctoral fellow at The Institute for Genomic Research and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Pharmacology from SUNY Buffalo, as well as a B. Pharmacy from Mumbai University, India.

About Bolt Biotherapeutics' Immune-Stimulating Antibody Conjugate (ISAC) Platform Technology
The Boltbody™ platform consists of Immune-Stimulating Antibody Conjugates (ISAC) that harness the ability of innate immune agonists to convert cold tumors into immunologically hot tumors thereby illuminating tumors to the immune system and allowing them to be invaded by tumor killing cells. Boltbody™ ISACs have demonstrated the ability to eliminate tumors following systemic administration in preclinical models and have also led to the development of immunological memory, which is predicted to translate into more durable clinical responses for patients.

About Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc.
Bolt Biotherapeutics, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a private biotechnology company developing Boltbody™ Immune-stimulating Antibody Conjugates (ISACs), a new class of immuno-oncology therapeutics that have eliminated tumors following systemic administration in preclinical studies and results in the development of immunological memory, which may lead to more durable clinical responses for patients. Bolt's platform technology is applicable to a broad spectrum of antibodies targeting tumor antigens expressed on all types of cancer, including patients who are refractory to the current generation of checkpoint inhibitors. The company was founded by Dr. Ed Engleman, and its platform is based on technology exclusively licensed from Stanford University.  The company is financed by world-class investors including Novo Holdings, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Vivo Capital and Nan Fung Life Sciences. For more information about Bolt Biotherapeutics, please visit www.boltbio.com.

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SOURCE Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc.