Caris Life Sciences Appoints Dr. David Spetzler Chief Scientific Officer

Executive Appointment Complements Strategic Alignment to Further Develop and Expand Carisome TOP Platform

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Apr 09, 2015, 06:00 ET

IRVING, Texas, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences®, a leading biotechnology company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today appointed David Spetzler, Ph.D., as its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Spetzler, who previously served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development, will assume full responsibility for all research and product development activities. One of his new key priorities will be expanding the company's focus on its Carisome® TOP™ platform, a revolutionary blood-based profiling technology being studied for its utility in drug development, drug delivery, and the diagnosis, prognosis and theranosis of cancer and other complex diseases.

"During his tenure with Caris, Dr. Spetzler has been an instrumental leader in the early discovery and current development of our Carisome TOP platform, as well as provided key strategic insights and direction into our industry-leading tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence®," said David D. Halbert, Chairman and CEO of Caris Life Sciences. "As Chief Scientific Officer, we look forward to David continuing to make significant contributions to further advance our innovative platforms as we advance beyond diagnostic services to become a robust biotechnology company that will fundamentally change the way medicine is practiced."

Initially designed as a fluid-based early detection and risk stratification tool, Carisome TOP has since shown significant utility in drug targeting and drug discovery/development. This technology has demonstrated the ability to screen trillions of molecules simultaneously in order to identify subpopulations of patients suffering from cancer and other complex diseases. Tumor material in the blood is measured through the identification of extracellular microvesicles, or exosomes, which are abundant, even in early stage disease. Further research and development initiatives are underway to use these molecules to create novel therapeutics that are truly customized to each individual patient.

"Our proprietary, blood-based Carisome TOP platform is extremely promising and I am convinced that Caris Life Sciences is set to transform the way cancer and other complex diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated," said Dr. Spetzler. "I am excited to be part of this scientific paradigm shift and to provide better tools to physicians and patients to help relieve as much suffering as possible."

Dr. Spetzler earned an MS from the School of Mathematical and Statistical Science in Computational Bioscience, a Ph.D. in Molecular Cellular Biology and an MBA at Arizona State University.

About Caris Life Sciences®
Caris Life Sciences® is a leading biotechnology company focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. The company is developing its Carisome® TOP™ technology, a revolutionary and proprietary blood-based platform for the development of novel therapeutics, drug delivery and drug target identification. The technology is also being developed for diagnosis, prognosis, and theranosis of cancer and other complex diseases. Caris Molecular Intelligence®, the company's comprehensive tumor profiling service with more than 70,000 patients profiled, provides oncologists with the most potentially clinically actionable treatment options available to personalize cancer care today. Using a variety of advanced profiling technologies to assess relevant biological changes in each patient's tumor, Caris Molecular Intelligence connects biomarker data generated from a tumor with biomarker-drug associations supported by evidence in the relevant clinical literature. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout Europe, the U.S., Australia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.CarisLifeSciences.com.

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences