SAN DIEGO, Aug. 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. (“Poseida”), a San Diego-based company translating best-in-class gene editing technologies into lifesaving therapeutics, announced the expansion of the company's executive team with several key appointments. Matthew Spear, M.D., has been appointed Chief Medical Officer, Ryan Takeya has been appointed Vice President, Technical Operations, and Glenn Dourado has been appointed Vice President, Business Development.
“The rapid progress and successful achievement of important technology and preclinical milestones at Poseida has created the need and opportunity to recruit an exceptional leadership team,” stated Nishan de Silva, M.D., President and Chief Operating Officer at Poseida Therapeutics. “Dr. Spear’s deep experience in oncology drug development and gene therapy will be invaluable in progressing our pipeline of novel therapies. Mr. Takeya’s expertise in leading technical operations efforts for gene therapy therapeutics will be critical in ensuring the availability of supply for our product candidates. Mr. Dourado’s track record of closing over 60 biotechnology licensing transactions will play an important role in Poseida’s growth. Together, they will contribute to growing Poseida’s business and bringing new therapies to patients with high unmet medical need.”
Dr. Spear has been working in research and development for over 20 years. He has served as Vice President Clinical Development at Incyte Corporation, Head of Oncology and Head of Biotherapeutics at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals and Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Nereus Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Spear led multiple oncology clinical development programs at Pfizer. He also served as an Associate Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine, and the UCSD Medical School / UCSD Cancer Center. He received a B.A. degree from the Johns Hopkins University and an M.D. degree from Stanford University. His post-graduate training was in the Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard University program.
Mr. Takeya joins Poseida from Celladon Corporation, where as Vice President, Manufacturing, he was responsible for scale-up of the MYDICAR drug substance production process and oversaw manufacturing of MYDICAR drug substance and drug product. Prior to Celladon, he served as Senior Director, Manufacturing at Targeted Genetics Corporation, where he oversaw in-house and contract manufacturing of clinical gene therapy products, including clinical supplies used in the MYDICAR clinical program. Mr. Takeya has also held various process development and process transfer roles at Dendreon and Immunex. Mr. Takeya received his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Washington.
Mr. Dourado brings over 16 years of experience in biotechnology business development and joins Poseida from Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he led business development efforts as Senior Director, Business Development. Mr. Dourado previously worked at Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute, Metabasis Therapeutics, The Dow Chemical Company, Agouron Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Dourado has an MBA from Queen’s University, a Master of Science from the University of Calgary and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alberta.
About Poseida Therapeutics Inc.
Poseida Therapeutics is translating best-in-class gene editing technologies into lifesaving treatments. The company is developing CAR-T cell immunotherapies for multiple myeloma and other cancer types, as well as gene therapies for orphan diseases. Poseida is also partnered with Janssen Biotech to develop allogeneic CAR-T therapies using Poseida’s gene editing platform. Poseida has assembled a suite of industry-leading gene editing technologies, including the piggyBacTM DNA Modification System, XTNTM TALEN and NextGENTM CRISPR site-specific nucleases, and Footprint-FreeTM Gene Editing (FFGE). For more information visit www.poseida.com.