Tarveda Appoints Biotech Business Veteran Michael A. Metzger To Board Of Directors

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing Pentarins™ as a new class of potent and selective cancer medicines, today announced the appointment of Michael A. Metzger to the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Metzger has more than 20 years of experience leading value-creating corporate development, strategic and financial transactions and operating biotechnology companies. Currently Mr. Metzger serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded oncology biopharmaceutical company.

“I am extremely pleased to have Michael join our board. He will be a valuable addition as we have made the transition to a clinical stage company and are preparing for future growth,” said Drew Fromkin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tarveda Therapeutics. “Michael’s broad experience as a business executive in the life sciences industry and successful track record building companies through transactions will be critical as we continue to advance our internal pipeline, initiate new collaborations and optimally finance our company.”

Mr. Metzger has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since May 2015. Prior to joining Syndax, Mr. Metzger served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Regado Biosciences, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, where he oversaw the company's successful merger with Tobira Therapeutics, Inc in 2015. He also acted as an advisor to Tobira during its subsequent sale to Allergan in 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Metzger served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Mersana Therapeutics and led mergers and acquisitions while in senior business development positions at Forest Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Metzger also served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. and was a managing director at MESA Partners, Inc., a venture capital firm. Mr. Metzger holds a B.A. from George Washington University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the New York University Stern School of Business.

“Tarveda has made great progress to rapidly advance its Pentarin programs and platform. Tarveda’s novel approach has the potential to address the significant challenges seen with earlier generations of drug conjugates and improve the treatment options for patients with solid tumors,” said Mr. Metzger. “I look forward to working with Tarveda’s management team and my fellow board members to continue building Tarveda into a success for the benefit of patients and shareholders.”

About Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc.
Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc. discovers and develops Pentarins™, a new class of potent and selective miniaturized drug conjugates with enhanced targeting capabilities for the treatment of solid cancer tumors. Tarveda’s lead Pentarin drug candidate, PEN-221, is a miniaturized drug conjugate that targets the somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) for treatment of patients with neuroendocrine and small cell lung cancers. PEN-221 comprises a highly selective peptide that targets SSTR2 linked to the potent cytotoxic DM1 through a cleavable linker. Tarveda is also advancing its HSP90 drug conjugate platform with lead drug candidate PEN-866, which is a miniaturized HSP90 targeting drug conjugate that comprises a small molecule HSP90 targeting ligand conjugated to SN-38, the highly potent, active metabolite of irinotecan. Tarveda’s strategy includes developing its own proprietary Pentarins as well as applying the Pentarin platform to enhance the effectiveness of the targeting moieties and novel payloads of its pharmaceutical collaborators. www.tarveda.com