Tunitas Therapeutics Expands Management Team with Appointment of David J. King as Senior Vice President, Research

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tunitas Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of David J. King, Ph.D. as Senior Vice-President, Research. Dr. King was formerly chief scientific officer at AnaptysBio.

"David King is an expert in the discovery and development of biologic drugs and has played a key role in the development of three U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved products and numerous other clinical stage programs," said Nolan Sigal, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Tunitas. "We fully expect that David's deep experience in optimizing innovative discovery platforms and his extensive knowledge of preclinical development will facilitate development of our therapeutic pipeline and will enhance the successful development of epsi-gam, our first clinical candidate."

As CSO of AnaptysBio, Dr. King led the development of a novel technology for the generation of human antibodies and the assembly of a pipeline of novel therapeutics in immuno-oncology and in a number of autoimmune diseases. He also played a leading role in securing and carrying out partnered programs with several large pharma partners.

Prior to AnaptysBio Dr. King was at Medarex, subsequently acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he led research programs in the design and selection of therapeutic antibodies across a number of indications. At United Kingdom-based Celltech, (now part of UCB) Dr. King was the lead inventor of Cimzia®, a PEGylated antibody fragment for therapy of autoimmune disease. Dr. King received his B.S. from the University of Warwick and his Ph.D. from the University of Surrey in the U.K., and was a Glaxo Group Research postdoctoral fellow.

About Tunitas Therapeutics

Tunitas Therapeutics, Inc. (South San Francisco) is dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics designed to transform the treatment of patients with serious allergic diseases. Its proprietary platform facilitates the generation of fusion proteins that target novel inhibitory pathways on allergic cells, leading to inhibition of the key mediators of allergic hypersensitivity and the production of IgE, the antibody class that triggers the allergic response. Epsi-gam, the company's lead drug candidate, is designed as a long-term treatment for any IgE-mediated disease, including asthma and severe food allergy. The molecule has recently entered phase 1 clinical trials. Specific treatments for cat allergy and peanut allergy will follow epsi-gam into the clinic. For more information on Tunitas Therapeutics, please visit the company's website at http://www.tunitastherapeutics.com.

Contact:

Nolan H. Sigal, M.D., Ph.D.
President & CEO
Tunitas Therapeutics, Inc.
(650) 887-4747
[email protected]

Joan Kureczka
Kureczka/Martin Associates
(415) 821 2413
[email protected]

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SOURCE Tunitas Therapeutics, Inc.

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http://www.tunitastherapeutics.com