GlycoEra AG Announces New Investor, Appoints Industry Veteran Greg Fralish as Chief Business Officer

NEWTON, Mass. and WÄDENSWIL, Switzerland, Jan. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- GlycoEra AG, a pioneering company advancing a pipeline of extracellular protein degraders for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, today announced the expansion of its Series A financing with an investment from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). BMS joins existing investors, including 5AM Ventures, Roche Venture Fund and Sofinnova Partners, to advance GlycoEra's preclinical programs. GlycoEra also announced the addition of industry veteran Greg Fralish, Ph.D., as Chief Business Officer to expand and strengthen its leadership team.

"Adding BMS as an investor further validates the depth and breadth of our platform for creating transformative therapies," said Ganesh Kaundinya, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of GlycoEra. "As an established leader in targeted protein degradation and immune-mediated diseases, BMS will be an important investor to help advance the Company's portfolio into development. Additionally, we are excited to welcome Dr. Fralish as CBO to lead strategy, business development and other cross-functional initiatives, enabling our team to fully unlock the potential of our platform and to ultimately bring novel treatments to people living with unmet need across autoimmune diseases."

Dr. Fralish brings more than 20 years of experience in a variety of roles in business development and strategy, spanning both large pharma and biotech. Prior to joining GlycoEra, Dr. Fralish served as the Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at 2seventy bio, the cell therapy spin-out from bluebird bio, where he led corporate development, strategy and alliance management. He also played a pivotal role in facilitating multiple partnerships for 2seventy, including with Novo Nordisk, Regeneron, National Resilience and JW Therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Fralish honed his skills as bluebird bio's Vice President of Oncology Corporate Development and Takeda's Head of Oncology Business Development. At Takeda, he oversaw strategic initiatives, as well as a multitude of transactions that created an innovative portfolio of cell therapies, advanced biologics and precision therapies. 

"I am thrilled to join GlycoEra at this critical moment in the Company's growth," said Dr. Fralish. "GlycoEra's innovative biologics promise a potentially groundbreaking approach to treatment of diseases by leveraging a recombinant cell-based approach to create best-in-class protein degraders. As we expand our relationships with key investors and partners, grow our leadership team, and advance the science, I'm excited about GlycoEra's potential to transform treatment for patients." 

About GlycoEra AG
GlycoEra AG is a development-stage biotechnology company building a pipeline of transformative medicines for the treatment of a range of autoimmune diseases. GlycoEra's innovative platform enables high-throughput design and production of candidates for fast and deep degradation of pathogenic proteins. The Company's programs take advantage of selective and sustained removal of pathogenic proteins, which is highly relevant in a broad variety of additional settings, including oncology, neurology and infectious disease.

For further information, please visit www.glycoera.com

SOURCE GlycoEra AG