SAN DIEGO, Jan. 25, 2021 — Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDTX), a biotechnology company developing long-acting therapeutics designed to transform the standard of care for patients facing serious fungal or viral infections, today announced the appointments of internationally-renowned molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler, Ph.D., and seasoned life science executive Carin Canale-Theakston to its board of directors.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Bassler and Ms. Canale-Theakston to our board of directors,” said Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cidara. “We look forward to leveraging Dr. Bassler’s expertise in molecular biology and vast experience serving on boards across academia and the biotech industry and Ms. Canale-Theakston’s 25+ years of experience spearheading complex business and communication strategies for life science companies. Their combined expertise will be of tremendous value as we advance our novel antifungal, rezafungin, currently in pivotal Phase 3 trials, towards filing, and our antiviral conjugate (AVC) influenza program to IND filing.”
Dr. Bassler is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the chair of the department of molecular biology and the Squibb professor in molecular biology at Princeton University. She currently serves as a board member of Regeneron, Kaleido Biosciences and Royalty Pharma. Dr. Bassler has previously served as a board member of Sanofi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation and the American Academy of Microbiology, where she also served as the president. Dr. Bassler’s scientific honors include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Lounsbery Award and the Shaw Prize for Life Science and Medicine. She holds a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of California-Davis and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the John Hopkins University.
Ms. Canale-Theakston is the chief executive officer and founder of Canale Communications, a life science communications firm. Over the course of her career, she has led corporate strategy and corporate communications for more than 300 life science companies of varying sizes and stages. Ms. Canale-Theakston serves as vice chair of the board of directors for Biocom California, and co-chairs both the Biocom Capital Development Committee and the board’s nominating and governance committee. She has received a multitude of awards, including the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2019, California Assemblywoman Toni G. Atkins “Woman of the Year” for the 78th assembly district and San Diego 500 list of influential business leaders in life sciences from 2016-2020. Ms. Canale-Theakston previously served as president of the life sciences division of international public relations firm, Porter Novelli. She holds a B.S. in marketing & communications from the University of Tulsa.
About Rezafungin
Rezafungin is a novel once-weekly echinocandin being developed for both the treatment and prevention of serious fungal infections, such as candidemia and invasive candidiasis. The structure and properties of rezafungin are specifically designed to improve upon a clinically validated mechanism intended to enhance its efficacy and safety potential for patients. Cidara is currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial with rezafungin for the first-line treatment of candidemia and/or invasive candidiasis (ReSTORE trial) and a second Phase 3 clinical trial of once-weekly rezafungin for the prevention of invasive fungal disease in patients undergoing allogeneic blood and marrow transplantation (ReSPECT trial).
About Cloudbreak AVCs
Cidara is developing a new generation of immunotherapeutic antivirals from its Cloudbreak antiviral platform that couple potent antivirals to a human antibody fragment. These long-acting, antiviral conjugates (AVCs) directly inhibit viral proliferation while simultaneously engaging the immune system. AVCs are initially being studied for the prevention and treatment of seasonal and pandemic influenza, with the potential to deliver universal protection for an entire flu season with a single dose. Cidara is also advancing preclinical and discovery AVC programs to target other life-threatening viruses, such as RSV, HIV and CoV, including COVID-19.
About Cidara Therapeutics
Cidara is developing long-acting therapeutics designed to transform the standard of care for patients facing serious fungal or viral infections. The Company’s portfolio is comprised of its lead antifungal candidate, rezafungin, in addition to antiviral conjugates (AVCs) for the prevention and treatment of influenza and other viral diseases from Cidara’s proprietary Cloudbreak® antiviral platform. Cidara is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit www.cidara.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “anticipates,” “expect,” “may,” “plan” or “will”. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements related to the anticipated contributions from Dr. Bassler and Ms. Canale-Theakston, and the potential for Cidara’s therapeutics to transform the standard of care for patients facing serious fungal or viral infections, as well as the potential for AVCs to deliver universal protection for an entire flu season with a single dose. Such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, such as unanticipated delays in or negative results from Cidara’s clinical trials, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient enrollment or other obstacles to the development of rezafungin and advancement of Cidara’s other development programs. These and other risks are identified under the caption “Risk Factors” in Cidara’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other filings subsequently made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management’s assumptions and estimates as of such date. Cidara does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, the occurrence of future events or otherwise.
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Brian Ritchie
LifeSci Advisors
(212) 915-2578
britchie@lifesciadvisors.com
MEDIA CONTACT:
Karen O’Shea, Ph.D.
LifeSci Communications
(929) 469-3860
koshea@lifescicomms.com
