SAN DIEGO, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Cylene Pharmaceuticals announced today the appointment of Larry D. Witte, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. With more than 25 years of combined industrial and academic experience, Dr. Witte has been responsible for the development of multiple therapeutic oncology products. In his new role, he will be responsible for managing Cylene’s proprietary drug discovery platform and expanding Cylene’s pipeline of drug candidates.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Witte to Cylene Pharmaceuticals,” said CEO William G. Rice, Ph.D. “Larry is an innovative executive level scientist and an experienced manager with firsthand knowledge of the process required to take a product from initial target discovery to successful regulatory submission. Moreover, his extensive oncology product discovery expertise will accelerate the delivery of product candidates to Daniel Von Hoff, M.D., the company’s co-founder and head of medical affairs.”
Dr. Witte most recently served as Vice President of Research, and as a Member of the Executive Steering Committee, at ImClone Systems, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company with an approved product for the treatment of colorectal cancer. Prior to ImClone, Dr. Witte was a member of the faculty at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“I am delighted to join Cylene Pharmaceuticals at this exciting stage of its growth,” said Dr. Witte. “With its first drug candidate in clinical development and another compound advancing to the clinic, I believe that the company has the potential to use its drug discovery platform to create innovative first-in-class treatments for multiple types of cancer.”
Dr. Witte earned his Ph.D. from Iowa State University and served as a Research Fellow at the Mayo Clinic. He has published more than 80 papers, abstracts, and reviews.
About Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class small molecule drugs to treat life-threatening diseases, with a particular emphasis in oncology. Cylene’s pipeline is led by CX-3543, a pro-apoptotic agent in Phase I clinical development. CX-3543 and other molecules in the pipeline originate from the company’s proprietary drug discovery platform. More information can be found at www.cylenepharma.com.
Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: William G. Rice, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CylenePharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-858-875-5100, wrice@cylenepharma.com; or Media,Kathy W. Sweeney of Mentus, +1-858-455-5500, ext. 230, kwitz@mentus.com,for Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.cylenepharma.com//
