NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Turnstone Biologics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of cancer immunotherapies, today announced the promotions of José Manuel Otero, Ph.D., to Chief Technology Officer, and Saryah Azmat to Chief Business Officer. Turnstone also announced that Mike Burgess, MB. ChB., Ph.D., will transition from President of R&D to Executive Chairman of R&D and be appointed to the Turnstone Board of Directors, while also taking on an operational role outside of the Company.

“Dr. Otero is a highly accomplished leader with deep CMC and operational experience, and Ms. Azmat has unique corporate strategic insight and a proven track record of success. Manufacturing excellence and business development are core components of our overall strategy, and I am confident that with their leadership we will continue to bolster our position at the forefront of the dynamic cancer immunotherapy landscape,” said Sammy Farah, Ph.D., CEO at Turnstone. “We are also delighted to have Dr. Burgess join the Turnstone board and continue to work directly with the management team to develop and advise on our R&D strategy. Since joining the Company four years ago, he has led all functions within the R&D organization and been pivotal to Turnstone’s advancements. We furthermore wish him success in his new endeavors beyond these responsibilities at Turnstone.”

About Turnstone Biologics

Turnstone Biologics, a privately held clinical stage biotech company, is developing breakthrough cancer immunotherapies by advancing two leading and complementary platforms that drive innate and adaptive tumor immunity, to provide benefit to the millions of cancer patients underserved by current treatment options. Turnstone’s proprietary vaccinia virus platform is engineered to drive coordinated immune activation, potent viral activity and local expression of encoded therapeutics. The innovative TIL cell therapy platform leverages clinically validated treatment protocols and has been specifically designed to extend beyond the use of bulk TILs to enrich for the most relevant T-cells for tumor eradication, preserving broad antigen diversity and minimizing time to treatment for patients. The Company has an ongoing Phase 1/2a trial in solid tumors (RAPTOR) for its leading oncolytic virus candidate, RIVAL-01, and is expecting to file an IND for the lead TIL therapy candidate, TIDAL-01, in 2021. For more information, please visit www.turnstonebio.com, and follow Turnstone on LinkedIn.

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