CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 27, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerulean Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq:CERU), a leader in Dynamic Tumor Targeting™, today announced the appointment of clinical oncology expert, David Parkinson, M.D., to its Board of Directors, effective as of October 29, 2014. With Dr. Parkinson's appointment, Cerulean has formed a Clinical Advisory Committee of the Board, which will consist of Dr. Parkinson, Dr. Susan Kelley and Dr. Paul Friedman.
"Dr. Parkinson has outstanding experience in all aspects of oncology research and development, including leadership roles at large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as oversight of a major branch of the National Cancer Institute. We are therefore very pleased to welcome him to the Cerulean team," said Dr. Friedman, who will assume the role of Executive Chairman of Cerulean effective October 29, 2014. "Dr. Parkinson's appointment comes at an opportune time as Cerulean approaches several clinical development milestones for our lead candidate, CRLX101."
"Cerulean's nanoparticle-drug conjugates, or NDCs, have the ability to selectively target tumor cells with potent anti-cancer payloads, which could drive activity and significantly reduce toxicities seen with traditional cancer drugs," commented Dr. Parkinson. "I look forward to contributing to the clinical trial strategy to bring these compounds to patients in need."
Dr. Parkinson is a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Previously, Dr. Parkinson served as President and CEO of Nodality, a company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancies to enable more effective therapeutics development and clinical decision-making. Prior to that, Dr. Parkinson was senior vice president of Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec, vice president of Oncology Development at Amgen and vice president of Global Clinical Oncology Development at Novartis. Dr. Parkinson also worked at the National Cancer Institute, serving as chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as acting associate director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program.
Dr. Parkinson held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas and New England Medical Center of Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Parkinson received his M.D. as gold medalist from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, with Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology training at McGill University and at the New England Medical Center.
Dr. Parkinson is a past chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. He is a past president of the International Society of Biological Therapy, and past editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy. He currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine. He has recently completed a term on the FDA's Science Board as well as a term on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). He continues to serve as Chairman of the AACR Finance Committee.
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.