CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA), a leading genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology both in vivo and ex vivo, today announced the appointment of Derek Hicks to a newly created position as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer.
Mr. Hicks joins Intellia with more than 25 years of combined business, leadership and biotechnology experience, having most recently served as Head of Business Development at Spark Therapeutics. While at Spark, he was responsible for business development strategy, search and evaluation, licensing and key partnership activities. Prior to this role, Mr. Hicks spent 18 years at Pfizer in a variety of business and corporate development roles culminating with his position as Vice President, Corporate Development, World-Wide Business Development.
“As Intellia continues to expand its leadership position in the field of genome editing, our ability to grow our pipeline, imagine new therapeutic possibilities and collaborate with leading organizations will be key to our future success. I am thrilled to welcome Derek to Intellia’s executive team as we enter the next chapter in our evolution,” said Intellia President and Chief Executive Officer John Leonard, M.D. “Derek is an accomplished business leader who shares Intellia’s values and commitment to bringing forth life-changing therapies for patients. He has a long, successful history of leading corporate and business development efforts in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. I am confident his expertise will complement Intellia’s strong legacy of identifying and executing upon value-adding partnerships and corporate development opportunities critical to our mission of building the industry’s most innovative genome editing company.”
“I could not be more excited to join Intellia at this transformational time as the team is just beginning to realize the full potential of genome editing,” said Mr. Hicks. “Intellia has clearly been a pioneer in the space, and I look forward to working with the Intellia team and our partners in maximizing the impact of its world-class science for the benefit of patients.”
Mr. Hicks earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MBA in finance from Indiana University Kelly School of Business.
About Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics, a leading clinical-stage genome editing company, is developing novel, potentially curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. To fully realize the transformative potential of CRISPR/Cas9, Intellia is pursuing two primary approaches. The company’s in vivo programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia’s ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. Intellia’s deep scientific, technical and clinical development experience, along with its robust intellectual property portfolio, have enabled the company to take a leadership role in harnessing the full potential of CRISPR/Cas9 to create new classes of genetic medicine. Learn more at intelliatx.com. Follow us on Twitter @intelliatweets.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (“Intellia”) within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied statements regarding Intellia’s ability to advance and expand the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to develop into human therapeutic products, as well as our CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property portfolio; achieve stable or effective genome editing; the timing and potential achievement of milestones to advance our pipeline and grow as a company; and the anticipated contribution of the members of our board of directors and our executives to our operations and progress.
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks related to Intellia’s ability to protect and maintain its intellectual property position; risks related to Intellia’s relationship with third parties, including its licensors and licensees; risks related to the ability of its licensors to protect and maintain their intellectual property position; uncertainties related to the authorization, initiation and conduct of studies and other development requirements for its product candidates; the risk that any one or more of Intellia’s product candidates will not be successfully developed and commercialized; the risk that the results of preclinical studies or clinical studies will not be predictive of future results in connection with future studies; and the risk that Intellia’s collaborations with Regeneron or its other collaborations will not continue or will not be successful. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Intellia’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Intellia’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Intellia’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Intellia undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.
Intellia Contacts:
Investors:
Ian Karp
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
+1-857-449-4175
ian.karp@intelliatx.com
Lina Li
Director, Investor Relations
+1-857-706-1612
lina.li@intelliatx.com
Media:
Matt Crenson
Ten Bridge Communications
+1-917-640-7930
media@intelliatx.com
mcrenson@tenbridgecommunications.com
