Biothera Pharmaceutical Inc. Appoints Barry Labinger as Chief Executive Officer – Business Wire (press release)

EAGAN, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Biothera Pharmaceutical Inc. announced today the appointment of Barry Labinger as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 14. Biothera Pharmaceutical is developing a novel cancer immunotherapy that triggers a robust, coordinated immune response against a wide range of cancers.

Mr. Labinger has nearly three decades of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience, with leading roles at Emergent BioSolutions, Human Genome Sciences, 3M Pharmaceuticals, and Immunex. His experiences with oncology drug development involving innate immune modulation, commercialization, and public market funding are a strong fit for Biothera Pharmaceutical, a mid-clinical stage, immuno-oncology drug development company.

“Barry has strong leadership and management skills to take Biothera Pharmaceutical forward and realize the full potential of Imprime PGG, the Company’s first-in-class immune modulator, which we believe is the next step in immune oncology,” said Richard G. Mueller, Chairman of the Board, Biothera Holding Corp. “We are delighted to have such an accomplished executive lead the company through the next phase of its development.”

“I’m thrilled to join the team at Biothera Pharmaceutical, which has generated strong data demonstrating clinical activity and a favorable safety profile for Imprime PGG in a range of combinations and tumor types,” said Mr. Labinger. “The ability of Imprime PGG to induce a coordinated immune response has great potential to improve cancer patients’ outcomes, along with approved and emerging immune oncology therapies.”

Mr. Labinger most recently served as Executive Vice President and President, Biosciences Division, at Emergent BioSolutions Inc., where he was responsible for all aspects of product development, manufacturing, and commercialization, including the advancement of partnering initiatives. Previously, Mr. Labinger led commercialization and business development efforts as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Human Genome Sciences, Inc. Prior to this, as Division Vice President of 3M Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Labinger held responsibility for a portfolio of marketed products, along with advancement of a pipeline that included immune response modifiers for the treatment of viral infections and cancers. Prior to 3M, Mr. Labinger was Senior Vice President and General Manager, Commercial Operations for Immunex Corporation. Earlier in his career, Mr. Labinger held management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott Laboratories. He has an MBA degree from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University.

About Biothera Pharmaceutical Inc.
Biothera Pharmaceutical Inc. is biotechnology company developing Imprime PGG, a first-in-class, systemically administered beta glucan PAMP (pathogen associated molecular pattern) that triggers a robust, coordinated immune response shown to enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1, PD-L1 antibodies), anti-angiogenic antibodies and tumor-targeting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). To date, Imprime PGG has shown promising efficacy in combination with mAbs in single-arm and randomized Phase 2 studies in non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Studies are ongoing in metastatic colorectal cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Imprime PGG has shown to be well-tolerated in more than 400 patients. More information is available at www.biothera.com/pharma or follow us on Twitter. Biothera Pharmaceutical Inc. is a subsidiary of Biothera Holding Corp., a privately held company.