Redwood Bioscience Appoints Peter Van Vlasselaer, PhD as Executive Chairman

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Redwood Bioscience, a biopharmaceutical company developing a rational protein-chemical design technology for optimizing drug conjugates, announced the appointment of Peter Van Vlasselaer, PhD as Executive Chairman to Redwood's Board of Directors.  In this role, Dr. Van Vlasselaer will be actively guiding Redwood on drug and platform development as well as corporate strategy.  Dr. Van Vlasselaer has been involved in the start-up of four biotechnology companies and brings more than 20 years of senior management experience to Redwood.

Currently, Dr. Van Vlasselaer is the Executive Chairman of iPierian, where he was the interim CEO earlier this year.  He previously served as the founding CEO of Arresto Biosciences which was acquired by Gilead Sciences in December 2010.  Prior to launching Arresto, Dr. Van Vlasselaer was the CEO of Avidia which also had a successful exit though its sale to Amgen in October 2006.  Before that he was involved in the start-up of InterMune and Dendreon where he served as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations and Vice President of Development, respectively.  He holds a bachelor degree in zoology, a PhD in immunology from the University of Leuven in Belgium and conducted post-doctoral research at Stanford University and at DNAX Research Institute.

During his career, Dr. Van Vlasselaer has contributed to the development of multiple biologic products and small molecules for treating diseases including cancer, inflammation, infectious diseases and fibrosis.  He has authored several peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters and is the inventor on more than 30 patents.

"We are thrilled to welcome Peter to the Executive Chairman role at Redwood," said Karen Boezi, CEO of Redwood.  "His expertise in drug development, operations, corporate strategy and business development will be extremely valuable to the Company."

"We are very pleased to be able to access Peter's proven abilities in shepherding novel technologies from research into the clinic and driving value for investors," stated David Rabuka, co-founder, President & Chief Scientific Officer.

"Redwood stands out as a biotechnology company poised to significantly advance the field of drug conjugates," said Dr. Van Vlasselaer.  "The Company's site specific protein modification technology overcomes the challenges associated with conjugating biologics to synthetic molecules.  By providing control over cargo placement, number and orientation as well as good conjugation efficiency, Redwood is able to generate well defined conjugate libraries for identification of superior antibody-drug conjugates and peptide therapeutics."  

About Redwood Bioscience, Inc.

Redwood Bioscience, an Emeryville, CA based company, is developing a rational protein-chemical design technology to optimize antibody drug conjugates and peptide therapeutics.  The Company's site specific protein modification platform provides unparalleled control over cargo placement on a protein, cargo orientation and stoichiometry, enabling the creation of conjugate libraries from which homogenous compounds with optimal efficacy, safety, and half-life can be selected.  Redwood is located in Emeryville, CA.  For further information, please visit www.redwoodbioscience.com.

SOURCE Redwood Bioscience, Inc.