BioAtla Appoints Scott Smith As President

SAN DIEGO, /PRNewswire/ -- BioAtla, LLC, a global biotechnology company focused on the development of Conditionally Active Biologic (CAB) antibody therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Scott Smith, as President. Mr. Smith, an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical executive, joins the Company from Celgene Corporation, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer.

“Scott’s experience and proven capabilities in building and leading organizations for the development and commercialization of innovative products makes him ideally suited to help lead the expansion of BioAtla’s operations, including business development and partnering activities, new product development and execution of our strategies to advance our CAB platform opportunities worldwide. I look forward to working with Scott to build on and accelerate BioAtla’s progress,” said Jay M. Short, Ph.D., Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of BioAtla.

About Scott Smith
Mr. Smith joins BioAtla with 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience. In his ten years at Celgene from 2008-2018 his leadership role expanded from Vice President of Global Marketing for Inflammation & Immunology, to Global Head of that division, to President of the Inflammation & Immunology Franchise to his appointment in 2017 as Celgene’s President and Chief Operating Officer. With a particular emphasis and interest in immunology, Mr. Smith drove the growth of Celgene’s Inflammation and Immunology division from 13 to more than 1,300 people worldwide and oversaw the clinical development, global registration and commercial success of the blockbuster drug Otezla. Mr. Smith’s prior experience at Pharmacia (acquired by Pfizer) and at Biovail included global responsibility for sales and marketing, creating and executing commercial and business development strategies and contributing to regulatory and clinical development strategies. Mr. Smith also serves on the board of directors of Titan Pharmaceuticals, Triumvira Immunologics and Springbank Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Smith received both his BSc degree in Chemistry and Biology and his HBSc degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Western Ontario and his Masters of International Business Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

About Conditionally Active Biologics (CABs)
Conditionally Active Biologic proteins are generated using BioAtla’s proprietary protein discovery, evolution and expression technologies. These proteins can be mAbs, enzymes and other proteins designed with functions dependent on changes in microphysiological conditions (e.g., pH level, oxidation, temperature, pressure, presence of certain ions, hydrophobicity and combinations thereof) both outside and inside cells.

Studies have shown that cancerous tumors create highly specific conditions at their site that are not present in normal tissue. These cancerous microenvironments are primarily a result of the well understood unique glycolytic metabolism associated with cancer cells, referred to as the Warburg Effect. CAB proteins are designed to deliver their therapeutic payload and/or recruit an immune response in specific and selected locations and conditions within the body and to be active only in the presence of a particular cellular microenvironment. In addition, the activation is designed to be reversible to repeatedly switch ‘on and off’ should the CAB move from a diseased to a normal cellular microenvironment and vice versa. CABs can be developed in a variety of formats including antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bi-specifics, chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-Ts) and combination therapies.

About BioAtla, LLC
BioAtla is a global biotechnology company with operations in San Diego, California, and Beijing, China. BioAtla develops novel monoclonal antibody and other protein therapeutic product candidates designed to have more selective targeting, greater efficacy, and more cost-efficient and predictable manufacturing than traditional antibodies. Two of the Company’s conditionally active drug candidates, BA3011, an AXL-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-AXL-ADC), and BA3021, a ROR2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-ROR2-ADC), currently are the subject of multi-center, open-label, Phase 1/2 studies designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity and antitumor activity of the CAB candidate in patients with advanced solid tumors. In addition, two licensed CAB CAR-T antibodies are in clinical trials for solid tumors in China.

Learn more at www.bioatla.com.

Contact:

Richard Waldron
Chief Financial Officer
BioAtla, LLC
rwaldron@bioatla.com
858.356.8945

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SOURCE BioAtla, LLC