BOSTON, Dec. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP) today announced that David Mauney, M.D., has been promoted to President effective immediately. Dr. Mauney, who joined Ziopharm in 2017 as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, will continue to report to Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Director of Ziopharm.
As President of Ziopharm Oncology, Dr. Mauney leads the Company’s corporate and business development strategies and oversees all company operations. Since joining the Company, he successfully renegotiated Ziopharm’s licensing agreement with Intrexon Corp. in October 2018, replacing all prior agreements between the companies. Dr. Mauney also was instrumental in securing a $50 million private placement, which closed on Nov. 13, 2018.
Prior to joining Ziopharm, Dr. Mauney served as Managing Director of Harvest Capital Strategies, LLC. Prior to that, he co-founded and served as a Managing Director of De Novo Ventures, a health care investment firm founded in 2000. Dr. Mauney was the lead partner of health care investments for Asset Management Company and the first employee and Director of Business Development for Fox Hollow Technologies, which later went public and was ultimately sold to EV3. He holds an M.D. from the Dartmouth School of Medicine and a B.A. in psychology from Duke University.
About Ziopharm Oncology, Inc.
Ziopharm Oncology is an immuno-oncology company focused on developing end-to-end cost-effective solutions using its non-viral Sleeping Beauty platform for TCR and CAR T-cell therapies and immune-stimulating gene therapy with Controlled IL-12. The Sleeping Beauty platform genetically modifies T cells with DNA plasmids to express T-cell receptors (TCRs) to target specific antigens in solid tumors and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to target CD19 in blood cancers with the Company’s very rapid T-cell manufacturing process referred to as “point-of-care.” The Sleeping Beauty platform is being advanced in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Eden BioCell. The Company also is developing its Controlled IL-12 platform or Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex as monotherapy and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat brain cancer, including a collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Company contacts:
David Connolly
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
617-502-1881
dconnolly@ziopharm.com
Mike Moyer
Vice President, Portfolio Strategy
617-765-3770
mmoyer@ziopharm.com