TARIS Appoints Tony Kingsley as President and Chief Executive Officer
LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TARIS Bio(TM), a biopharmaceutical company developing transformational therapies to treat people with debilitating urological disorders, announced today that Tony Kingsley has joined the company as president and chief executive officer and was elected to the TARIS board of directors. After serving as the company's first CEO for over nine years, Purnanand Sarma, Ph.D., has stepped down to pursue new opportunities and will advise the company during a brief transition period. The appointment of Mr. Kingsley bolsters TARIS' late-stage drug development and commercial expertise as the company advances its product pipeline in muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) and overactive bladder (OAB).
"Sarma and the team have made terrific progress in leveraging their deep knowledge of epithelial bladder biology to design multiple product candidates and securing compelling clinical data for both of our programs in bladder cancer and overactive bladder," said Tony Kingsley, President and Chief Executive Officer of TARIS. "With their support and our committed investors, I am eager to sustain the momentum and accelerate later-stage development of both of our products. I hope to build TARIS to realize substantial commercial opportunities for our innovative treatments that can fundamentally redefine the treatment paradigm for patients suffering with urologic disorders."
Mr. Kingsley comes to TARIS with nearly three decades of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industry experience. Prior to joining TARIS, he served as president and chief operating officer at The Medicines Company where he ran the fully integrated infectious disease business and oversaw the approval of VABOMERE(TM), a first-in-class combination product for the treatment of life-threatening carbapenem-resistant infections in the hospital setting. Previously, Mr. Kingsley was global commercial head at Biogen, where he drove the global launches of products Tecfidera(®) and PLEGRIDY(®) for multiple sclerosis, launched Biogen's entry into the hemophilia business, including the launches of long-acting factor replacement products ELOCTATE(®) and ALPROLIX(®), and founded Biogen's commercial biosimilars business in Europe. Prior to Biogen, he was senior vice president and general manager of the gynecological surgical products business at Hologic, Inc., and was division president, diagnostic products at Cytyc Corp. Mr. Kingsley was a partner at McKinsey & Company, focused on the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He is a member of the board of directors of Proteon Therapeutics, Inc. Mr. Kingsley received a B.A. in government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
TARIS' first-of-its-kind therapies provide continuous treatment directly into the bladder and show promise for patients with limited treatment options. TARIS' lead investigational product, TAR-200, is designed to release the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine continuously in the bladder for multiple weeks. TARIS believes that TAR-200 has the potential to harness both direct antitumor and immuno-oncologic activity without meaningful systemic drug exposure, yielding a powerful therapy and mitigating systemic side-effects. Planning is underway for a Phase 2/3 study of TAR-200 for the treatment of MIBC in patients ineligible for curative intent therapy. TAR-200 for the development in MIBC has been granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
TAR-302 is TARIS' investigational program in OAB and is designed for the controlled release the antimuscarinic agent trospium in the bladder for up to three months at local concentrations several times higher than achievable with oral treatment. Trospium is among the oral antimuscarinic medications considered the standard of care for OAB. TARIS believes that the targeted dosing of this drug has the potential to improve efficacy, reduce side effects, and unlock powerful new pharmacology compared with current oral therapies. In a Phase 1b study, subjects who were experiencing an average of more than five daily urge incontinence episodes who received a single TAR-302 system demonstrated a reduction in mean daily episodes of 75% following dosing for 42 days. TARIS plans to initiate a Phase 2 study in 2019 to evaluate TAR-302 in idiopathic OAB.
About the TARIS(®) System
The TARIS System is a controlled release dosage form for use in the bladder. The system uses passive delivery principles to continuously release drug in the bladder over weeks to months. It is deployed into and retrieved from the bladder using minimally invasive in-office procedures. This technology allows drug release to be tailored to match the needs of specific treatment regimens and targets the site of disease, potentially offering a safer and more efficacious treatment option for patients.
About TARIS Bio(TM)
TARIS Bio is developing transformational therapies to treat people with debilitating urological disorders. The company is unlocking novel epithelial biology through continuous disease engagement with its unique platform. TARIS' lead programs in bladder cancer and overactive bladder position the company to improve patient health and redefine urologic care. www.tarisbio.com.
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