Nohla Therapeutics Appoints Kathleen Fanning as President and Chief Executive Officer

SEATTLE, Feb. 02, 2017 -- Nohla Therapeutics Inc. (Nohla), a leading developer of universal donor cellular therapies for the treatment of patients with life threatening hematological malignancies, announced today the appointment of Kathleen Fanning as President and Chief Executive Officer and an Executive member of the Board of Directors. Michael Sistenich, who has been serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer, will continue in his capacity as a Non-Executive Member of the Company’s Board of Directors.

“On behalf of the Board and the entire Nohla team, it is a pleasure to welcome Katie to Nohla.  Her extensive experience and accomplishments as a biotech executive will be invaluable as we rapidly ramp-up clinical and research development and global manufacturing,” commented Steven Gillis, Chairman and Director of Nohla and Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners.  “I also wish to extend our sincere appreciation to Michael Sistenich, who spearheaded Nohla’s startup, guided its transformational Series A financing this past November, and will continue to contribute as a member of the Board.”

Ms. Fanning brings to Nohla over 30 years of industry experience holding previous leadership roles in both public and private biopharmaceutical companies. She joins Nohla after recently serving as Chief Operating Officer at VentiRx Pharmaceuticals. During her tenure at VentiRx, she led strategic planning activities and corporate and business development. She played an instrumental role in the strategic collaboration between VentiRx and Celgene Corporation. Prior to joining VentiRx, Ms. Fanning held senior leadership roles at Cell Therapeutics Inc., as Vice President of Acquisitions and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, with responsibilities that included building and managing the company's first global sales and marketing organization. She also served as Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at CellPro, Inc. and spent 13 years at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca), with increasing roles of responsibility including Director of Marketing for Oncology Products, where she led the successful U.S. launch of Arimidex^®. Ms. Fanning received her B.A. in Zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

“I am very excited to join a true next generation platform biotechnology company that is transforming the application of universal donor stem cell therapies to decrease side effects and improve patient survival after cancer treatment. The Company has made significant progress in advancing its lead programs into clinical development and I look forward to working with the talented team at Nohla to build upon this promising foundation and to pioneer the delivery of best-in-class cellular therapies to patients,” commented Ms. Fanning.

About Nohla Therapeutics

Nohla Therapeutics Inc. (Nohla) is a clinical stage developer of universal donor cellular therapies for the treatment of patients with life threatening hematological disorders. The Company is leveraging a platform developed over the past two decades at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center which enables the ex vivo expansion and directed differentiation of cord blood stem/progenitor cells resulting in “off-the-shelf” universal donor cellular therapies. These products can be used on demand without the need for HLA matching and provide bridging hematopoietic recovery in patients at risk for neutropenia after intensive chemotherapy or cord blood transplant for critical diseases. Nohla is evaluating these “off-the-shelf” cryopreserved expanded cell products in several clinical settings including two lead programs: a multi-center, randomized open label Phase IIb study in the setting of myeloablative cord blood transplant and a multi-center, randomized global Phase II study in the setting of high dose chemotherapy for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Nohla is supported by top-tier healthcare dedicated institutional investors including ARCH Venture Partners, 5AM Ventures, and Jagen Group.

For more information, please contact:

Investors
Candice Knoll
Blueprint Life Science Group
+1 415-375-3340 Ext. 4
[email protected]

Media
Esther Cuno
Director, Corporate Communications
+1 206 519 5313
[email protected]