Coronado Biosciences Appoints Thomas F. Schaible, Ph.D. as Project Leader, Inflammatory Bowel Disease


BURLINGTON, Mass., May 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coronado Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNDO), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel immunotherapy biologic agents for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer, announced today that Thomas F. Schaible, Ph.D. has joined the Company as Project Leader, Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Dr. Schaible will lead Coronado's R&D efforts in advancing TSO (Trichuris suis ova or CNDO-201) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

"We are excited that Dr. Schaible has joined us in developing TSO for IBD," said Dr. Harlan F. Weisman, Coronado's Chairman and CEO. "Dr. Schaible led the efforts at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in getting REMICADE® (infliximab) approved for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. His extensive development and regulatory experience in IBD and other autoimmune conditions will be instrumental to progressing TSO forward. We believe the fact that we are able to attract someone with Dr. Schaible's credentials is a testament of the interest in the hygiene hypothesis within the field of immunology and TSO's potential to be a game changer for patients with IBD and other autoimmune diseases."

Most recently, Dr. Schaible was at Janssen Biotech, Inc. (JBI), which is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of JNJ, where he was Vice President, Medical Affairs, and led the scientific and medical commercial support for JBI's marketed products and served on JBI's Management Board. During his career, Dr. Schaible led the teams that developed and gained the approval for the use of REMICADE® in treating Crohn's disease in 1998 and rheumatoid arthritis in 1999, for which he received the Johnson Medal, the highest award for research innovation at JNJ. He then started the Medical Affairs organization and had responsibility for the post-marketing research and educational initiatives that has supported REMICADE® growth since its approval, leading to worldwide sales of approximately $7 billion in 2012. As part of these efforts, Dr. Schaible's group designed and conducted the SONIC trial in Crohn's disease, a major clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrating the superiority of REMICADE® versus a conventional immunomodulator (azathioprine) in reducing signs and symptoms of the disease.

Prior to joining Centocor in 1987, which was later acquired by JNJ, Dr. Schaible was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where he was the recipient of NIH RO1 grants and an NIH Research Career Development Award. Dr. Schaible holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Trinity College and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Rutgers University.  He did his Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiac Physiology and Biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

About Coronado Biosciences

Coronado Biosciences is engaged in the development of novel immunotherapy biologic agents. The company's two principal pharmaceutical product candidates in clinical development are: TSO (Trichuris suis ova or CNDO-201), a biologic for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis; and CNDO-109, a biologic that activates natural killer (NK) cells, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), multiple myeloma and solid tumors. For more information, please visit www.coronadobiosciences.com.

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