CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 8, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerulean Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq:CERU), a leader in Dynamic Tumor Targeting™, today announced the addition of Susan L. Kelley, M.D., to the company's board of directors.
"Susan is a successful oncology drug developer, and she brings a rare breadth and depth of drug development experience to Cerulean's expanding clinical development programs in oncology," said Oliver Fetzer, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Cerulean. "With CRLX101 in clinical trials in three lead indications, including the recently launched randomized Phase 2 trial in 3rd/4th line renal cell carcinoma, and CRLX301 expected to enter the clinic before year-end, we have many opportunities to benefit from Susan's wisdom."
Dr. Kelley has been developing drugs in oncology and immunology for over 25 years. From 2008 to 2011, she was Chief Medical Officer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium and its sister organization, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. From 2001 to 2008, she held positions of increasing responsibility at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Bayer-Schering Pharma, including Vice President, Global Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area Head – Oncology, where she led the Bayer team responsible for the development and worldwide regulatory approval of Nexavar® (sorafenib), including a renal cell carcinoma indication. She also held positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Oncology and Immunology drug development from 1987 to 2001.
Dr. Kelley currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of ArQule and Alchemia, oncology-focused biotechnology companies.
Dr. Kelley received her M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine. She was a Fellow in Medical Oncology and Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and a Fellow in Medical Oncology and Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine, where she also served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine.
"The unique Cerulean technology platform has generated a pipeline of nanoparticle-drug conjugates, or NDCs, with the potential to make a substantial difference for people living with cancer," said Dr. Kelley. "I look forward to working together with the rest of the Directors and the Management Team to advance CRLX101, CRLX301 and subsequent NDCs through clinical development towards regulatory approval."
"Dr. Kelley is the fourth independent director to join Cerulean's Board in 2014," said Alan Crane, Chairman of Cerulean's Board of Directors. "As part of becoming a public company, we appointed three experienced public company directors with extensive industry and company building experience: Paul Friedman, former CEO of Incyte, Bill McKee, former CFO of Barr, and Bill Rastetter, former CEO of Idec. They already have contributed greatly, and we look forward to Susan's contributions."
About Cerulean Pharma
The Cerulean team is committed to improving treatment for people living with cancer. We apply our Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to create a portfolio of nanoparticle-drug conjugates, or NDCs, designed to selectively attack tumor cells, reduce toxicity by sparing the body's normal cells, and enable therapeutic combinations. Our lead product candidate, CRLX101, is in multiple clinical trials with other cancer treatments, all of which aim to unlock the power of combination therapy. For more information, please visit www.ceruleanrx.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about the clinical development of our product candidates, and other statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, availability of funding sufficient for our foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 12, 2014 and in other filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.