DURHAM, N.C., May 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision BioSciences (Nasdaq: DTIL), a genome editing company dedicated to improving life through the application of its proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform, announced today that Christopher R. Heery, M.D. has joined Precision BioSciences as its Chief Medical Officer. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Chris Heery as our Chief Medical Officer. Chris has exceptional experience in the rapidly evolving field of cell therapies and has led many first-in-human clinical trials during his time at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). We believe his skill set and experience are a perfect fit to guide our off-the-shelf immunotherapy and in vivo gene correction programs through human clinical trials,” said Matt Kane, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Precision BioSciences.

Chief Development Officer, David Thomson, commented, “Chris brings a highly unique and sought-after skill set to Precision BioSciences. He has been a translational clinical trialist at one of the world’s preeminent research institutions, NCI, where his first-in-human immunotherapy clinical trials included a Phase 1 study of an anti-PD-L1 treatment (avelumab) that is now approved for use in the United States. Chris’s most recent experience as Chief Medical Officer at Bavarian Nordic has given him a strong understanding of regulatory requirements, clinical trial oversight, and leadership that will allow him to play a key role in helping Precision BioSciences build a successful clinical organization. We look forward to advancing our clinical pipeline under Chris’s leadership.”

Prior to joining Precision BioSciences, Dr. Heery most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Bavarian Nordic, where he oversaw clinical development programs for its immune-oncology and infectious diseases portfolios. Prior to this, he was Head of the Clinical Trials Group of the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at NCI. He joined the NCI Medical Oncology Branch as a Medical Oncology Fellow in 2009 and also served as an Adjunct Appointment in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch. He was part of the larger effort of the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology to create new immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Heery is board certified in Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine and received his M.D. from East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Heery completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University, where he received a BA in English Literature.

About Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences is dedicated to improving life (DTIL) through its proprietary genome editing platform, “ARCUS.” Precision BioSciences leverages ARCUS in the development of its product candidates, which are designed to treat human diseases and create healthy and sustainable food and agriculture solutions. Precision BioSciences is actively developing product candidates in three innovative areas: allogeneic CAR T immunotherapy, in vivo gene correction, and food. For more information regarding Precision BioSciences, please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information contained in or accessible through this press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements related to our success as a clinical organization and our advancement of our product candidates.  In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “expect,” “should,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “target,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “target,” “project,” “predict,” “contemplate,” “potential,” or the negative thereof and similar words and expressions.

Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us. Such statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to become profitable; our ability to procure sufficient funding; our limited operating history; our ability to identify, develop and commercialize our product candidates; our dependence on our ARCUS technology; the initiation, cost, timing, progress and results of research and development activities, preclinical or greenhouse studies and clinical or field trials; our or our collaborators’ ability to identify, develop and commercialize product candidates; our or our collaborators’ ability to advance product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical or field trials; our or our collaborators’ ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of future product candidates, and any related restrictions, limitations and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate; the regulatory landscape that will apply to our and our collaborators’ development of product candidates; our ability to achieve our anticipated operating efficiencies as we commence manufacturing operations at our new facility; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and any of our product candidates; the potential for off-target editing or other adverse events, undesirable side effects or unexpected characteristics associated with any of our product candidates; the success of our existing collaboration agreements; our ability to enter into new collaboration arrangements; public perception about genome editing technology and its applications; competition in the genome editing, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology fields; potential manufacturing problems associated with any of our product candidates; potential liability lawsuits and penalties related to our technology, our product candidates; and our current and future relationships with third parties; and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our final prospectus filed with the SEC under Form 424(b) on March 28, 2019, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

Investor Contact:
Jason Wong
Blueprint Life Science Group
Tel. (415) 375-3340 Ext. 4
jwong@bplifescience.com

Media Contact:              
Michael Lampe
Scient PR
Tel. (484) 575-5040 
michael@scientpr.com