SAN DIEGO –
Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDTX), a biotechnology company
developing novel anti-infectives including immunotherapies, today
announced the appointments of James (Jamie) Levine as chief financial
officer and Jessica Oien, J.D., as general counsel and secretary.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jamie and Jessica to our executive
management team. They both have deep, highly relevant experience and
distinguished leadership track records in the biotech industry, all of
which will be extremely valuable to Cidara as we advance the rezafungin
Phase 3 program and expand our Cloudbreak immunotherapy platform,” said
Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cidara.
“I am confident that Jamie’s diverse background in finance and
experience on Wall Street, as well as Jessica’s breadth of legal
experience in clinical development through to commercialization, will be
tremendous assets to our company.”
Prior to joining Cidara, Levine held senior executive and Board roles at
two biotechnology companies, Sapphire Energy and Verenium Corporation,
both of which were focused on the development, manufacture and sale of
products for the human and animal nutrition markets. Previously, Levine
was a managing director in the investment banking division of Goldman
Sachs & Co. in both New York and London, where he spent 11 years focused
on serving clients in the healthcare and energy industries.
Levine holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree
in Economics from Brandeis University.
Oien formerly served as vice president, compliance at Otonomy, Inc.,
where she developed and oversaw the commercial compliance program and
was the legal lead for the commercial business. She served in similar
roles at Pernix Therapeutics, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Verus
Pharmaceuticals. She provided legal consulting services for a robust
clientele of early-stage biotech companies including legal support for
numerous collaborations, and research and development programs. Oien
also served as senior director, legal affairs at Elan Corporation. She
began her legal career as outside corporate counsel at national law
firms including tenures at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and Millbank,
Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
Oien holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola Law School and a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from North
Dakota State University.
About Cidara Therapeutics
Cidara is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing
new anti-infectives that have the potential to transform the standard of
care and save or improve patients’ lives. The company is currently
advancing its novel echinocandin antifungal, rezafungin acetate, in a
Phase 3 clinical trial in the treatment of candidemia and invasive
candidiasis, and plans to initiate a second Phase 3 trial in the
prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections in patients undergoing blood
and marrow transplantation. Rezafungin has improved pharmacokinetics
compared to existing echinocandins and the potential for expanded
utility across patient settings. It is the only once-weekly product
candidate in development for the treatment and prevention of
life-threatening invasive fungal infections. Cidara also is leveraging
its novel Cloudbreak™ platform to develop antibody-drug conjugates for
the treatment of serious viral and Gram-negative bacterial infections.
Cloudbreak is the first immunotherapy discovery platform designed
specifically to create compounds that directly kill pathogens and also
direct a patient’s immune cells to attack and eliminate bacterial,
fungal or viral pathogens. Cidara is headquartered in San Diego,
California. For more information, please visit www.cidara.com.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
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Sam Brown Inc.
615-414-8668
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