Kinnate Biopharma (KNTE) Appoints Helen Sabzevari to its Board

Kinnate Biopharma Inc. (Nasdaq: KNTE) (“Kinnate”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for difficult-to-treat, genomically defined cancers, today announced the appointment of Helen Sabzevari, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. Dr. Sabzevari is a global thought leader who is internationally recognized for her work in the field of oncology. Her career-long efforts have helped bridge the gap between cancer cell biology and immunology, bringing these disciplines together to understand how the immune system and cancer cells interact on the broader system level and form the basis for many current efforts in immuno-oncology, particularly in the field of cancer vaccines.

“We are honored to welcome Helen to the Kinnate Board of Directors. She is internationally recognized for her work in the field of immuno-oncology and her patient-first approach will bring an important perspective to our team as we initiate clinical studies for our lead program, KIN-2787,” said Nima Farzan, CEO of Kinnate. “Helen is a passionate leader with an incredible track record of success in the biopharmaceutical industry. On behalf of the entire team, we look forward to drawing from her experience to support Kinnate’s growth.”

Dr. Sabzevari is currently President and CEO of Precigen, Inc., a dedicated discovery and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. At Precigen, Dr. Sabzevari is leading discovery and development of the next generation of gene and cell therapies using precision technology to unmet medical needs in the areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.

Prior to Precigen, Dr. Sabzevari was co-founder and chief scientific officer of Compass Therapeutics, a fully integrated drug discovery and development company focused on manipulating the immune system to treat human disease. Prior to Compass Therapeutics, Dr. Sabzevari was senior vice president of immuno-oncology at Merck Serono (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), where her pioneering efforts led to the foundation of Merck Serono’s immuno-oncology translational innovation platform for developing and advancing therapies, including cancer vaccines, cancer stem cell treatments and approaches to reset the immune system so that it is primed to eliminate cancer cells. Prior to Merck Serono, Dr. Sabzevari led the Molecular Immunology Group at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the US National Cancer Institute (LTIB-NCI), where she was focused on design, development and delivery of novel vaccines and immunotherapies for a range of human cancers.

Dr. Sabzevari has been author or senior author on over 40 scientific publications and has been the recipient of the Mass High Tech’s Women to Watch Award, the PharmaVOICE 100 Award and the NIH Merit Award for major contributions to the field of cancer immunotherapy. Most recently, Dr. Sabzevari received the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Team Science Award for her work on the NCI Cancer Immunotherapy Program Team.

Dr. Sabzevari received her Ph.D. in cell and molecular immunology and completed her postdoctoral work at the department of immunology at the Scripps Research Institute working on various immunotherapeutic modalities in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

“I am pleased to join the esteemed group of biopharma innovators and executives on the Kinnate Board of Directors. The work the company has done in developing a potential new generation of kinase inhibitor product candidates is exciting and may offer new treatment options for the many patients who are not benefiting from existing targeted cancer therapies,” said Dr. Sabzevari. “Under Nima’s leadership, Kinnate has successfully hit a number of important milestones in a short period of time, and I am looking forward to supporting them as they enter this important next phase of progress into the clinic.

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