Combined Therapeutics Expands Board of Directors with Appointments of Biopharma Industry Veterans Paul Wotton, Robert Ruffolo and Kevin F. McLaughlin

BOSTON, March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Combined Therapeutics Inc. (CTx), a privately held biotechnology company developing the next generation of mRNA therapeutics with a novel modified-mRNA platform to prevent and treat infectious diseases and cancer, today announced the appointment of three highly accomplished biopharma executives to its board of directors:  Paul Wotton, Ph.D.; Robert R. Ruffolo Jr., Ph.D.; and Kevin F. McLaughlin, MBA.

"The additions of Paul, Robert and Kevin to our board bring together highly accomplished executives with extensive industry experience that is aligned with our own development strategy," said Romain Micol, M.D., MPH, Ph.D., the company's president, chief executive officer and co-founder. "We are finalizing our financing round and putting in place the infrastructure to advance our mRNA vaccines and therapeutics into clinical development. Additionally, we are in the process of establishing several new partnerships and collaborations that will enable us to continue developing our mRNA vaccine technology, further driving growth and increasing shareholder value."

Dr. Wotton is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with more than 30 years of experience in the biotech and pharma industries. He brings to Combined's board a strong background in overall business leadership, product development and transformational business transactions. He currently serves on the boards of Vericel, Cynata Therapeutics and Kytopen, and is a co-founder and director of Avenge Bio. Recently, Dr. Wotton was the chief executive officer of Obsidian Therapeutics, where he led fundraising initiatives, built the management team and directed the advancement of an engineered TIL therapy candidate for the treatment of melanoma into its first clinical trial. Before this, he was president and chief executive officer of Ocata Therapeutics until its acquisition by Astellas Pharma. He received his B.Pharm from University College London and his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Nottingham.

Dr. Ruffolo is the former president of research & development at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and brings a wealth of experience in drug discovery and development. At Wyeth, he supervised an R&D organization of more than 7,000 scientists with an annual budget of more than $3 billion. Prior to this, he was senior vice president of biological sciences worldwide at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). Dr. Ruffolo's research groups have brought 37 new medicines to market. In addition, he has published more than 500 papers and edited 15 books. Dr. Ruffolo was awarded the prestigious Discoverer's Award for the discovery of carvedilol (Coreg^®) for the treatment of congestive heart failure, which changed the paradigm for the treatment of this devastating disease. He received his B.S. in pharmacy from The Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from that same institution.

Mr. McLaughlin is a finance and management executive with more than 40 years of experience in the biopharma and high tech industries.  He was most recently the senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer with Acceleron Pharma. During his 11-year tenure, he was a key member of management that helped to drive the company's growth from a private research-focused business to a publicly traded commercial entity that Merck acquired for $11.5 billion. Mr. McLaughlin also serves as a director of Vericel Corporation and Decibel Therapeutics.  He earned a B.S. in accounting and physical distribution management from Northeastern University and an MBA from Babson College.

About Combined Therapeutics

Combined Therapeutics, making the world a better place. For all. 

Combined Therapeutics Inc. (CTx) is a privately held biotechnology company developing the next generation of high value mRNA vaccines to protect everyone including vulnerable populations from global infectious diseases as well as to treat cancer. The company's unique and proprietary mRNA platform with an increased safety profile, due to controlled biodistribution and high specificity, is built around Multi Organ Protective (MOP^CTx) binding miRNA sequences combined with therapeutic mRNAs, allowing the targeting of therapeutic protein expression in specific tissues while reducing off target effects to protect key vital organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys. The company's initial focus is on developing vaccines and vaccine adjuvants for infectious diseases and oncology indications with plans to initiate clinical development in 2024.

Combined Therapeutics is based in Boston and has international operations located in London and Paris. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.combinedtx.com. Follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Editor's Note: Photographs of the new directors are available on request.

Media Contact:

David Schull or Ignacio Guerrero-Ros, Ph.D.
Russo Partners
+1 (858) 717-2310
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SOURCE Combined Therapeutics Inc.