Kite Pharma Names Christine Cassiano As Senior Vice President Of Corporate Communications And Investor Relations

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kite Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:KITE) has announced the appointment of Christine Cassiano as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She will also sit on the company’s Executive Committee. In this new position, Cassiano will be responsible for transforming Kite’s communications function to keep pace with the company’s expanding pipeline of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) product candidates to treat both hematological (blood-based) and solid cancers.

“My enthusiasm for Kite’s groundbreaking research goes beyond my professional drive to innovate healthcare communications – it is also deeply personal”

“Christine arrives at a key inflection point for Kite as we advance our CAR-T and TCR pipeline toward key company milestones, including our BLA submission for KTE-C19 with the FDA, and evolve Kite into a commercial organization,” said Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kite. “Christine’s progressive communications approach and vast experience will allow us to enhance our education of key audiences on the changing cancer treatment paradigm, the value of CAR-T therapy, and our role in its innovation.”

With a dual background in investor and public relations, Christine has an extensive history developing innovative approaches that advance communications in corporate positioning, issues management, employee engagement, commercialization and investor relations.

“My enthusiasm for Kite’s groundbreaking research goes beyond my professional drive to innovate healthcare communications – it is also deeply personal,” said Cassiano. “Like many who have lost a loved one to cancer, I understand first-hand the optimism and promise scientific progress offers to patients whose lives depend on significant breakthroughs in care. I am eager to further the understanding of Kite’s role in advancing breakthrough therapies for cancer.”

Cassiano was most recently Head of Healthcare for the W2O Group, an integrated healthcare marketing and communications consulting firm. She previously co-founded ARC2 Communications & Media, a boutique agency that developed groundbreaking platforms for some of the largest companies in healthcare. Her more than 20-year career includes multiple product launches across various therapeutic areas such as Botox^®/Botox^® Cosmetic (onabotulinumtoxinA), Prolia^® (denosumab), Abraxane^® (paclitaxel) and Lumigan^® (bimatoprost ophthalmic solution) as well as leading global efforts as Senior Vice President & Co-Director, Healthcare at Hill + Knowlton Strategies. Cassiano has held senior communications roles at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen, Allergan and Abraxis BioScience. Some of Cassiano’s career achievements include a SABRE Silver Anvil award for the launch of Botox^® Cosmetic (Allergan), an In2 SABRE Award for the Most Innovative Brand/Agency Collaboration (Pfizer/ARC2), and PR Week’s 40 Under 40.

About Kite Pharma

Kite Pharma, Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of novel cancer immunotherapy products, with a primary focus on engineered autologous cell therapy (eACT™) designed to restore the immune system’s ability to recognize and eradicate tumors. Kite is based in Santa Monica, CA. For more information on Kite Pharma, please visit www.kitepharma.com. Sign up to follow @KitePharma on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kitepharma.

Kite Pharma, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: submitting a Biologics License Application (BLA) for KTE-C19 with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), commercially launching KTE-C19 and the ability to advance additional product candidates. Various factors may cause differences between Kite’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail in Kite’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Kite assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.