BIND Biosciences, Inc. Appoints Scott Minick as President and CEO

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BIND Biosciences announced today the appointment of Scott Minick as President and CEO. Mr. Minick was formerly a Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners, a major BIND investor, and previously the President and COO of SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals/Liposome Technology Inc., where he led the company during its 1995 FDA approval and successful commercial launch of the leading oncology drug, Doxil (liposomal doxorubicin). SEQUUS was subsequently acquired by ALZA for $580 MM.

"Over the past three years, the BIND targeted nanoparticle platform has demonstrated the potential to have major impact in pharmaceutical medicine, which goes far beyond what could be accomplished with liposomes, and these liposome products treat major diseases and generate revenue in excess of $1.5 Billion today,” said Minick. He continued “Medicine asks a lot, sometimes too much, of a single drug molecule, and BIND’s platform solves this problem by complementing conventional medicinal chemistry approaches to overcome important challenges of drug development. I’m excited to join the exceptional BIND team who has quickly translated the outstanding academic research from Dr. Langer’s and Dr. Farokhzad’s laboratories at MIT and Harvard into promising drug candidates; the first of which is moving towards the clinic this year."

"This technology has enormous potential to create important targeted therapeutics across a range of drug classes, including peptides, proteins, small molecules and siRNA,” said Omid Farokhzad, BIND Scientific Founder and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. “BIND has done an extraordinary job of translating academic science into commercial product candidates and I’m excited to continue collaborating with Scott and his team as BIND transitions into a clinical stage company. Scott joining BIND is a strong testament for the strength of our platform and organization to make revolutionary drugs for important human diseases.”

Robert Langer, BIND Scientific Founder and the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT said, “BIND has established clear leadership in developing targeted nanoparticles for pharmaceutical medicine to take BIND to the next level. As CEO, Scott’s experience in developing and commercializing liposomal drugs hits the bull’s eye. I was delighted when Scott led ARCH’s investment in BIND and today it speaks volumes about BIND’s accomplishments and potential that Scott is joining the team as President and CEO.”

“ARCH’s strategy is to work closely with top-tier entrepreneurs and investment partners to build impactful companies. Since its launch, BIND has emerged as the leading targeted nanotherapeutic company,” said Robert Nelsen, Managing Director and Founder, ARCH Venture Partners. “We’re delighted that someone as capable as Scott will be leading BIND through its next phase of growth. I look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Scott, BIND and our investment partners as we all work to make BIND a hugely successful company.”

About BIND Biosciences

BIND Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary Medicinal Nanoengineering™ platform to produce best in class drugs. BIND’s platform enables the design, engineering and manufacturing of therapeutic targeted nanoparticles with unprecedented control over drug PK; biodistribution; cell- or tissue-specific targeting; and drug exposure kinetics. Medicinal Nanoengineering complements medicinal chemistry to enable predictable, cost effective, and rapid development of breakthrough products with superior efficacy and safety profiles. Product opportunities include enabling or expediting the development of pipeline molecules as well as improving performance, expanding indications, or life cycle extension for mid- and late-stage products. BIND’s initial product development efforts are in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular disorders, inflammatory disease and RNAi therapeutics. BIND’s lead program, BIND-014, targets a surface protein upregulated in solid tumors and is planned to enter clinical development in 2H 2010.

BIND was founded in 2006 by two pioneers in the field of therapeutic targeted nanoparticles, Dr. Robert Langer, MIT David H. Koch Institute Professor, and Dr. Omid Farokhzad, Harvard Medical School Associate Professor. The company licensed a large patent estate on a worldwide exclusive basis from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School covering the scientific founders’ work in therapeutic targeted nanoparticles. BIND is backed by leading venture capital firms, Polaris Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners and NanoDimension. For more information, please visit the company’s web site at www.bindbio.com.