SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Silverback Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on leveraging its proprietary ImmunoTAC technology platform to develop systemically delivered and tissue targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases, today announced the appointment of Jonathan Piazza as chief financial officer. He joins Silverback from Goldman Sachs & Co., where he served as a managing director of Healthcare Investment Banking, advising on and executing biopharma and life sciences financing and strategic transactions. Mr. Piazza will be a member of the executive leadership team and will be responsible for finance, corporate strategy, investor relations and corporate communications.

“With his range of strategic finance experience, leadership and management capability, Jonathan is ideally suited to meet the needs of Silverback and all of our stakeholders as we continue to advance our pipeline that marries the curative potential of IO treatment with the precision of targeted drugs. We are thrilled to welcome Jonathan to our leadership team,” said Laura Shawver, Ph.D., chief executive officer.

Mr. Piazza has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare investment banking, finance and large pharma roles. Before joining Goldman Sachs & Co., Mr. Piazza spent 13 years at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers, most recently serving as a managing director in Healthcare Banking. Previously, he was a financial advisor at Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney), and prior to that, he worked in engineering, development and international marketing disciplines at Abbott Laboratories across multiple divisions of the company. Mr. Piazza earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

“I am passionate about working with companies that can change the lives of patients, and the Silverback team has turned innovative science into drug candidates that are on the cusp of demonstrating the power of the ImmunoTAC platform. I can’t think of a better opportunity to rejoin the biopharma industry than the one presented by Silverback Therapeutics,” said Mr. Piazza. “I look forward to partnering with Laura, the management team and the board to grow the company and deliver a new class of systemically delivered, tissue targeted therapies to patients in need.”

The Company also expanded its board of directors appointing Andrew Powell, J.D., effective October 2020. Mr. Powell is a highly accomplished executive with expertise in the areas of commercialization strategy, governance, compliance, licensing and mergers and acquisitions. He is a member of the board of directors of Landec Inc. (NASDAQ: LNDC) and Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS), and served on the board of Synthorx Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Medivation, Inc. from May 2015 until November 2016, when the company was acquired by Pfizer, Inc., and executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of InterMune, Inc. from September 2013 to March 2015, when the company was acquired by Roche, Inc. Mr. Powell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School.

About Silverback Therapeutics

Silverback Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on leveraging its proprietary ImmunoTAC technology platform to develop systemically delivered and tissue targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Silverback’s platform enables the strategic pairing of proprietary payloads that modulate key disease modifying pathways with monoclonal antibodies directed at specific disease sites. Initially, Silverback is creating a new class of targeted immuno-oncology agents that direct a TLR8 agonist myeloid cell activator to the tumor microenvironment in solid tumors to promote cancer cell killing. Silverback’s lead product candidate, SBT6050, is a therapeutic comprised of a TLR8 agonist payload conjugated to a HER2-directed monoclonal antibody that targets tumors such as certain breast, gastric and non-small cell lung cancers. SBT6050 is currently in a Phase 1 clinical study in patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-expressing solid tumors (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04460456). Silverback Therapeutics is located in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, visit www.silverbacktx.com.

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