Metacrine Broadens Management Team with Two Key Hires

SAN DIEGO, April 17, 2018 -- Metacrine, Inc., an innovative biotechnology company developing therapies to benefit patients with liver, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases, today announced two new key management appointments. Trisha M. Millican has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer, while Karl F. Cremer, Pharm.D., has been appointed Vice President, Clinical Operations.

“I am delighted to welcome Trisha and Karl to Metacrine’s growing leadership team,” said Ken Song, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Metacrine. “Trisha brings with her a wealth of operational, strategic and financial expertise in the biotechnology sector.  Karl’s successful track record in clinical operations across multiple products, ultimately leading to approvals, significantly strengthens our development team to advance innovative best-in-class and first-in-class therapeutics. As we prepare to enter the clinic by mid-2018 with our lead candidate, MET409, a non-bile acid best-in-class farnesoid X receptor agonist (FXR) for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), I am confident we have the right team in place to advance our programs.”

Trisha Millican joins as the Chief Financial Officer of Metacrine. Her broad experience includes corporate finance, corporate and business development and business operations. Prior to Metacrine, she was Senior Vice President of Finance at Seragon Pharmaceuticals where she led corporate finance and was a key player in the sale of the company to Genentech/Roche in August 2014. Prior to joining Seragon, she served as Vice President of Finance at Aragon Pharmaceuticals until its sale in August 2013 to Johnson & Johnson. She has over 17 years of finance experience in healthcare, having also served in various senior financial management roles at Zogenix, Inc., from 2009 to 2012, and Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. from 2006 to 2009. Trisha spent five years with the public accounting firm Deloitte, is a certified public accountant in the state of California, and holds a B.S. in accounting from the University of San Diego.

Karl Cremer joins Metacrine as Vice President of Clinical Operations. He has more than 30 years of experience building clinical departments and managing clinical programs, and was a key leader in five product approvals. Previously he was Executive Director of Clinical Operations at Triphase Accelerator, where he was responsible for conducting clinical studies in patients with multiple myeloma and glioblastoma, leading to Celgene’s acquisition of assets related to marizomib in 2016. He has experience in a broad base of therapeutic areas. He received his Pharm.D. at the University of the Pacific, completed a Clinical Residency in ICU Medicine at Veterans Association Medical Center in La Jolla, California, completed a Research Fellowship in Cardiology and Pharmacokinetics at University of Florida, and started his academic career at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

About Metacrine

Metacrine is developing best-in-class and first-in-class therapies to benefit patients with liver, gastrointestinal, and metabolic diseases. Metacrine’s lead program for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), MET409, focuses on the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and is based on a novel non-bile acid chemical scaffold. Additional programs are underway in irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the company has a research collaboration with Novo Nordisk in type 2 diabetes. Privately held Metacrine is headquartered in San Diego. For additional information, please visit www.metacrine.com.

Contacts:

Investor Inquiries
Westwicke Partners
Robert H. Uhl
Managing Director
858.356.5932
[email protected]