EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gritstone Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the next generation of cancer immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types, today announced that Mike Forcht, Ed.D., M.B.A., has joined the company as senior vice president of Human Resources, bringing more than 20 years of global management experience.
“It is a pleasure to welcome Mike Forcht to our senior leadership team,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Gritstone Oncology. “Mike brings a wealth of expertise, having led human resource strategy and operations for premier technology companies with thousands of employees worldwide. This is complemented by Mike’s experience in building thriving, high velocity start-ups. Technology companies are often sophisticated and forward-thinking in their talent management approaches, and we are strong believers in blending the best elements of tech and life sciences in every relevant dimension. As we drive to continued success, we will benefit from Mike’s insights into growing and managing highly technical organizations using the best available tools.”
Mike Forcht, Ed.D., M.B.A., joins Gritstone from ADLINK Technology, where he was the vice president of Human Resources (HR). In this capacity, he provided global HR leadership, including overseeing the strategic direction and implementation of talent acquisition and development for this technology leader. From 2014 to 2016, Mr. Forcht was the vice president of HR at Intematix, a technology company that had been ranked among Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 list for several years in a row. Previously, he was the senior director of HR Operations and Talent Development at SanDisk where he supported a global R&D organization. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Forcht was the Vice President of HR for Applied Signal Technology, a full-service intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) provider bringing cutting-edge science and engineering together to enhance global security. Mr. Forcht also held leadership roles at Loral Space Systems, Intuit, Genesys Telecommunications, 3Com Corporation and Apple Computer. Mr. Forcht has an Ed.D. in organizational leadership from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from San Jose State University.
“I am energized by the opportunity at Gritstone,” said Mike Forcht, Ed.D., M.B.A., senior vice president of HR at Gritstone Oncology. “I am especially attracted to the company’s remarkably innovative technologies and cultural passion to fulfill its noble and important mission to develop tumor-specific immunotherapies to fight cancer.”
About Gritstone Oncology
Gritstone Oncology (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, is developing the next generation of cancer immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types. Gritstone develops its products by leveraging two key pillars—first, a proprietary machine learning-based platform, Gritstone EDGE™, which is designed to predict, from a routine tumor biopsy, the tumor-specific neoantigens (TSNA) that are presented on a patient’s tumor cells; and second, the ability to develop and manufacture potent immunotherapies utilizing patients’ TSNA to potentially drive the patient’s immune system to specifically attack and destroy tumors. The company’s lead product candidate, GRANITE-001, is a personalized neoantigen-based immunotherapy beginning Phase 1 clinical testing. Gritstone’s second product candidate, SLATE-001, is a shared neoantigen (“off-the-shelf”) immunotherapy which is advancing towards the clinic. Novel tumor-specific antigens can also provide targets for bispecific antibody (BiSAb) therapeutics for solid tumors, and Gritstone’s BiSAb program is currently in lead optimization. For more information, please visit gritstoneoncology.com.
Gritstone Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to its senior leadership team membership and potential growth and success driven by such members. Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause Gritstone’s research and clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the drug development process, including Gritstone’s programs’ early stage of development, the process of designing and conducting preclinical and clinical trials, the regulatory approval processes, the timing of regulatory filings, the challenges associated with manufacturing drug products, Gritstone’s ability to successfully establish, protect and defend its intellectual property and other matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations. Gritstone undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the company in general, see Gritstone’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 14, 2018 and any subsequent current and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contacts
Media:
Dan Budwick
1AB
(973) 271-6085
dan@1abmedia.com
Investors:
Alexandra Santos
Wheelhouse Life Science Advisors
(510) 871-6161
asantos@wheelhouselsa.com
Source: Gritstone Oncology, Inc