ProNAi Therapeutics Strengthens Senior Management Team to Advance DNAi®-based Oncology Therapeutics

VANCOUVER, BC and PLYMOUTH, MI, Oct. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - ProNAi Therapeutics Inc., a private company dedicated to developing and commercializing a new class of therapies based on its proprietary DNAi® platform, today announced that it has added five seasoned executives to its senior management team.

• Dr. Angie You, Chief Business & Strategy Officer & Head of Commercial
• Wendy Chapman, Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations
• Chandra Lovejoy, Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs & Quality
• Emma McCann, Vice President, Program Management
• James Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs

"We are rapidly building a professional leadership team to ensure our lead oncology drug, PNT2258, has the best prospects for clinical and commercial success, while also focusing on advancing a broad oncology pipeline built upon our novel and proprietary DNAi platform," said Dr. Nick Glover, President & CEO of ProNAi Therapeutics. "These executives add deep experience in clinical trial execution, regulatory negotiation and capital markets access, and are essential to the further growth of our company. In addition, Dr. Angie You, our Chief Business & Strategy Officer and Head of Commercial has an outstanding track record in the biotech industry and will be responsible for leading the development and operationalization of our growth-oriented strategic plan, including the anticipated North American commercialization of our oncology products."

Dr. Angie You, Chief Business & Strategy Officer and Head of Commercial
Dr. You heads the newly created position of Chief Business & Strategy Officer & Head of Commercial, and will lead the Company's strategic and transactional business and commercial efforts. Prior to joining ProNAi, Dr. You served as the Chief Business Officer of Aragon Pharmaceuticals, a private oncology drug discovery and development company, where she was responsible for finance, operations, HR and business development. During her tenure, she helped raise $90M in two successful rounds of financing for the company, and led the business development process resulting in the $1B acquisition of Aragon Pharmaceuticals by Johnson & Johnson for an upfront payment of $650M and $350M in contingent milestones. Prior to Aragon, Angie served as Chief Business Officer at a number of companies including Synosia Therapeutics and Ren Pharmaceuticals. She also worked at Venrock Ventures, focused on new company formation, and ran the BD process for Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a Venrock portfolio company, resulting in an early Phase 2a licensing agreement with Schering Plough providing an initial $50M upfront and up to $575 million in milestones. After completing her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Harvard College, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University, Angie started her biotech career at McKinsey Consulting, focusing mainly on strategy, marketing and innovation-focused projects with biotech clients.

Wendy Chapman, Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations
Ms. Chapman heads the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations, with corporate accountability for the overall operational deployment of clinical studies. Prior to joining ProNAi, Wendy was the Portfolio Director at PAREXEL International where she was the senior point of contact for all issues related to the financial and operational execution of Phase II-IV global clinical trials for one of PAREXEL's largest Strategic Alliance Partners. Previously, Ms. Chapman was the Vice President of Clinical Operations at YM Biosciences Inc., where she was responsible for the development and management of Clinical Operations which included Project Management, Clinical Monitoring, Clinical Supply Management and Data Management of Phase I-III clinical trials in myelofibrosis and various solid tumor indications. Wendy has more than 25 years of experience in clinical drug development at several pharmaceutical and contract research organizations in Canada and the U.S., including Viventia Biotech, AAI Pharma, Bayer Inc., AstraZeneca and MDS.

Chandra Lovejoy, Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs and Head of Quality
Ms. Lovejoy heads the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs and Head of Quality, with more than 15 years of progressive experience in global regulatory affairs and drug development in large and small companies overseeing pre-clinical through post-marketing phases. Most recently, Chandra was the Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs at Endocyte, and prior to that she held a leadership role in Regulatory Affairs at Genentech, primarily on the Avastin program. Chandra brings experience driving cutting-edge global regulatory strategy and leading cross-functional team activities including new IND submissions, implementation and conduct of global clinical trials,  successful negotiations with both FDA and European health authorities regarding complex pivotal trials, and the submission and review of marketing applications.

Emma McCann, Vice President, Program Management
Ms. McCann heads the newly created position of Vice President, Program Management and joins ProNAi with more than 14 years of progressive experience in clinical research and program management. Emma was formerly Sr. Director, Program Management at YM BioSciences Inc., where she had a critical role within the organization focused on the progression of the company's lead drug through a myelofibrosis clinical development program. Following the acquisition of YM by Gilead Sciences, Inc., her leadership of transitional activities led to a seamless transfer of key corporate assets allowing for execution of ongoing development plans with minimal overall timeline impact. Emma holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Bio-Medical Science from The University of Guelph, Ontario.

James Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Mr. Smith heads the newly created position of Vice President, Corporate Affairs, primarily responsible for the Company's strategic investor relations and corporate communications activities. James was formerly Vice President, Corporate Development at SQI Diagnostics, a public multiplex protein assay company serving global pharmaceutical companies. Prior to this, he was Vice President, Corporate Affairs at YM BioSciences Inc., a public drug development company acquired by Gilead Sciences Inc. for $510 million. During his tenure at YM, he helped raise more than $140M in two successful rounds of financing for the company. Prior to YM, he led the Healthcare practice at TMX Equicom, a leading strategic investor relations consulting firm he joined in 2001, acquired by the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2007. He gained his initial capital markets experience as a biotechnology analyst at a venture capital firm. He also conducted research for eight years primarily focused on animal cell culture. He has a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Chemistry and a Master's degree in Biochemical Engineering from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

About ProNAi Therapeutics
ProNAi Therapeutics is a private company dedicated to developing and commercializing a new class of therapies based on its proprietary DNAi platform, for patients with cancer and other diseases. ProNAi's lead DNAi drug is PNT2258, which is specifically designed to treat cancers that overexpress BCL2. To date, 35 patients have been treated with PNT2258 in a Phase I and a pilot Phase II trial, with compelling efficacy and safety results. In May 2014, ProNAi raised approximately $60M from leading healthcare investors. For more information, please visit www.pronai.com.

SOURCE ProNAi Therapeutics Inc.