ImmusanT Names Patrick Griffin as Chief Medical Officer, Expands Management Team

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 19, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- ImmusanT announced today that Patrick H. Griffin, MD, has joined the biopharmaceutical company as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Development, and Michelle Hipwood joins as Director of Finance and Operations.

"Patrick brings to ImmusanT exceptional expertise as a gastroenterologist, drug developer and evaluator of numerous drug candidates for immune and inflammatory diseases.  The addition of Patrick is pivotal as we advance the clinical development of our therapeutic vaccine Nexvax2® and companion diagnostic for celiac disease and expand our immunotherapy platform to other indications," commented Leslie Williams, President & CEO of ImmusanT. "With Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Bob Anderson recently completing his move to Massachusetts from Australia, and the addition of Michelle Hipwood as Director of Finance and Operations, our tight knit team is focused on initiating our global clinical program in the coming months," she continued.

Dr. Griffin is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and gastroenterology and comes to ImmusanT from his most recent position as Head of External Innovation for Sanofi's immuno-inflammation therapeutic strategy unit, where he had a particular focus on therapeutic approaches to autoimmunity through immune system modulation. He originally joined Sanofi in 2005 as a Senior Director, Clinical Development in the area of internal medicine. Previously he held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical development at Forest Laboratories.

Dr. Griffin received his medical degree from Columbia University. After completing an internship and residency in internal medicine at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and fellowship in gastroenterology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Dr. Griffin joined the medical faculty of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he held academic clinical research, teaching and management positions. He spent several years in the solo private practice of internal medicine and gastroenterology in New York City before he moved to industry. Dr. Griffin is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Michelle Hipwood joins ImmusanT as Director of Finance and Operations from The Capital Network (TCN), where she was Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. At TCN, Ms. Hipwood was responsible for restructuring and improving all financial management, operational and strategic-related activities, reviving the brand and marketing strategy, expanding partnerships, and increasing the subscriber base and revenue. Ms. Hipwood was previously a Senior Associate at Roseview Capital Partners, where she participated in fundraising to support various start-up ventures. Ms. Hipwood has also worked at Deloitte & Touche and Fleet Bank (now Bank of America). She is a member of the Finance Committee for Land Sake Farm. She received an MBA from Babson College and a B.S. from Boston College.

About ImmusanT, Inc.

ImmusanT is a privately-held biotechnology company focused on restoring tolerance to gluten in celiac disease by harnessing new discoveries in immunology that aim to improve diagnosis and treatment and return patients to a normal diet, good health and improved quality of life. The company is developing Nexvax2®, a therapeutic vaccine for celiac disease, and a companion diagnostic and monitoring tool to improve celiac disease management. ImmusanT's targeted immunotherapy discovery platform can be applied to a variety of epitope-specific autoimmune diseases. Founded in 2010, ImmusanT is backed by Vatera Healthcare Partners.  More information can be found at www.ImmusanT.com.

SOURCE ImmusanT, Inc.