Crown Bioscience Names a New CEO and CFO

Crown Bioscience Taps a New CEO and CFO August 30, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Crown Bioscience, a company focused on developing platforms to advance research into oncology and metabolic disease, has made several changes to its leadership team, including the naming of a new chief executive officer.

This morning Crown announced that it had tapped its president, Jean Pierre Wery, as the company’s new CEO. Wery joined CrownBio in 2008.

"In 2016 CrownBio has experienced unprecedented growth with increasing demand for our Immuno-Oncology and Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease services and models," Wery said in a statement this morning. "As newly appointed CEO my objective is to foster the development of new products, cutting-edge technologies, and services for oncology and metabolic disease, while contemplating a possible expansion into new therapeutic areas."

Shifting into Wery’s role as company president is Alex Wu, co-founder of CrownBio. He will also assume the role of chief strategy officer.

Eva Ho has been tapped to serve as the company’s chief financial officer. Ho assumed the role previously held by Bing Zhu, who was been appointed chief operating officer.

"I am pleased Ms. Ho has joined CrownBio and I am looking forward to leading the next phase of the company's strategic initiatives," said Wu, CrownBio's co-founder and newly appointed President and CSO.

Earlier this month, CrownBio appointed Amar Thyagarajan and Sandeep Sinha, to its leadership team. Thyagarajan joined the company as associate director of product marketing and strategy and will be responsible for strategic and scientific marketing of CrownBio's cardiovascular and metabolic disease portfolio.

Sinha joined the team as scientific director with a focus on building partnerships with clients to execute successful CVMD programs, the company said.

The consolidation of CrownBio's leadership team demonstrates the company's dedication to “provide an experienced management team to drive forward the advancement of drug discovery worldwide,” the company said in a statement this morning. Part of that drug discovery program will certainly involve the newly established Center of Excellence for Oncology, which recently opened in San Diego to support increasing demand for oncology research studies. The enlarged 22,000-square-foot facility more than triples CrownBio's original capacity at this site, adding multiple holding rooms and dedicated procedure and formulation space. The USDA-certified facilities, fitted with Biosafety Level II environmental controls, also allow for handling of viral agents for oncolytic virus studies.

At the center, the company is bound to use its recently launched OmniScreen cell panel screening platform. Researchers can enroll their compounds into CrownBio’s OmniScreen where they will be able to observe data in real time. The company said in July that OmniScreen will be run on a cycled schedule every three months, allowing clients to select from three panels of cell lines that are most suitable for their needs.

In June, CrownBio launched six new recombinant cell lines for biological studies and drug screening, discovery and development. The stable cell lines, with CD137, CTLA-4, GITR, ICOS, OX40 and RANK immune checkpoints and receptors, are important targets and pathways for oncology drug discovery and development. CrownBio is releasing the cell lines in combination with the company's recently launched in vivo grade isotype controls and diabetic and cancer tissue samples from relevant models.

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