EXHIBIT 99.1
Lyell Immunopharma Appoints Lynn Seely, MD as President and Chief Executive Officer
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Dec. 15, 2022 — Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYEL), a clinical-stage T-cell reprogramming company dedicated to developing curative cell therapies for patients with solid tumors, announced that Lynn Seely, MD, a member of the company’s board and former president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Myovant Sciences, has been named Lyell’s president & CEO effective today. Dr. Seely succeeds Ms. Liz Homans following a four-year tenure as president and then CEO. Ms. Homans will remain a consultant to the company through June 2024.
Dr. Seely has extensive biopharmaceutical leadership experience with a track record of success building companies and developing new medicines in oncology and women’s health. She was previously the president & CEO of Myovant Sciences which gained marketing approval and launched ORGOVYX for men with advanced prostate cancer and MYFEMBREE for women with uterine fibroids and endometriosis. She was previously the chief medical officer at Medivation for a decade where she oversaw the development and marketing approval of XTANDI for men with castration-resistant prostate cancer. She joined the Lyell Board in May 2021 and serves as the lead independent director for Blueprint Medicines. Dr. Seely trained in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, completed a basic science and clinical fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of California, San Diego where she was on faculty before joining industry.
“My decision to transition from my role at Lyell was a difficult one, but I am excited about the next chapter for the company under Lynn’s leadership,” said Ms. Homans. “Leading Lyell to become a fully integrated company with two clinical stage programs has been a privilege. I am incredibly proud of the team we have built and all that we have accomplished together. Lynn’s expertise in leading teams to success on complex rapidly moving programs is a perfect fit for this stage of Lyell’s growth.”
“Liz has made tremendous contributions to Lyell, building a strong foundation for the company and setting Lyell on a trajectory for success. We support Liz in her decision and thank her for her steadfast leadership,” said Rick Klausner, MD, chair of Lyell Board of Directors. “Lynn is a proven leader with deep industry expertise and a history of successfully leading oncology clinical development programs. She has made significant contributions as a board member, and we are delighted she has enthusiastically agreed to step into this leadership position.”
“I am honored to be taking on this new role at such an exciting time,” commented Lynn Seely, MD, Lyell’s president and chief executive officer. “Since becoming a member of Lyell’s board, I have been so impressed with Lyell’s groundbreaking science, state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, and the passion and commitment of the Lyell team to make a transformative difference in the lives of patients with solid tumors. I look forward to working even more closely with our exceptional team to turn Lyell’s vision into reality.”
About Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.
Lyell is a clinical-stage T-cell reprogramming company dedicated to developing curative cell therapies for patients with solid tumors. The company is advancing a pipeline of therapies designed to address what it believes are the primary barriers that limit consistent, reliable and curative responses to adoptive T-cell therapy: T-cell exhaustion and lack of durable stemness, which includes the ability to proliferate, persist and self-renew, as well as generate differentiated effector cell progenies to provide durable anti-tumor functionality. Lyell is applying its proprietary ex vivo genetic and epigenetic reprogramming technologies to address these barriers in order to develop new medicines with improved, durable and potentially curative clinical outcomes. Lyell is based in South San Francisco, California with facilities in Seattle and Bothell, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.lyell.com.
