Exhibit 99.1
Codiak Appoints Jennifer Wheler, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer
– Former Principal Investigator at MD Anderson Cancer Center and immuno-oncology
drug developer at Novartis joins Codiak leadership –
– Benny Sorensen, M.D, Ph.D. named SVP, Strategic Projects –
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 10, 2021 — Codiak BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDAK), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the development of exosome-based therapeutics as a new class of medicines, today announced the appointment of Jennifer Wheler, M.D., an industry leader in targeted oncology and immunotherapy drug development, as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Wheler, who joins the company’s Executive Leadership Team and reports to president and CEO Douglas Williams, Ph.D., will provide leadership and direction for Codiak’s pipeline of clinical development programs through early-stage trials to global regulatory submissions.
Benny Sorensen, M.D., Ph.D., who has led the preclinical to clinical translational work and clinical strategy for Codiak for the past five years, advancing exoSTINGTM and exoIL-12TM through IND/CTA and into the current Phase 1 trials will become Senior Vice President, Strategic Projects. Dr. Sorensen will report to president and CEO Douglas Williams and continue as a member of Codiak’s Executive Leadership Team. He will help direct business development and other strategic external partnering projects and continue to provide support for the ongoing clinical trials.
“In the past year, our clinical team, led by Benny, has initiated two clinical programs and we expect to file an IND for a third program later this year, all of which are evaluating the potential for engineered exosomes to engage the immune system in novel ways to attack intractable cancers. With the anticipated advancement and intensified focus in oncology, we believe it is an ideal time for us to expand our team for the next phase of growth,” said Dr. Williams. “As a clinical oncologist with many years of patient treatment and drug development experience, Jennifer knows this space incredibly well and will bring valuable leadership and deep domain expertise to the outstanding team that we already have in place.”
Dr. Wheler brings more than 20 years of experience in industry and academic clinical research to Codiak, including a strong track record of successful early-stage oncology drug development. A board-certified oncologist, she served most recently as chief medical officer of Bicara Therapeutics, where she designed and led the first-in-human Phase I/II trial for the company’s bi-functional antibody candidate, including building the clinical trial infrastructure, clinical operations team and KOL network. Previously, Dr. Wheler led first-in-human studies for novel immuno-oncology assets at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. From 2006 to 2015, she worked in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where she served as Principal Investigator on more than 30 Phase 1 trials, including one of the first published trials of randomized data demonstrating benefit for treating patients with therapy matched to their tumor’s molecular profile. She is co-author on more than 145 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Wheler completed fellowships in breast cancer medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and in oncology at Yale Cancer Center and her internal medicine residency at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She received her A.B. from Princeton University and her M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. With a background in the arts, Dr. Wheler also founded Collage, a nonprofit organization that brings personalized and innovative art programs to patients living with cancer.
