– SWITZERLAND, Basel – Bright Peak Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jacob Chacko (M.D.) as Chair of its Board of Directors.
“Jacob is an accomplished life-science executive and highly regarded board member with a track record of building leading oncology-focused biotechnology companies. Jacob will bring scientific insights and a wealth of experience in corporate and financial strategy to Bright Peak during an important time in the company’s continued evolution,” said CEO Fredrik Wiklund.
Dr. Tom Woiwode, Managing Director of Versant Ventures and Bright Peak Board member added: “We welcome Jacob to the Board and look forward to his many contributions to Bright Peak’s future success,” said. “He is the perfect fit for the company’s next stage of growth, given his substantial biotech company leadership experience.”
About Dr. Jacob Chacko
Dr. Chacko currently serves as President, CEO, and member of the Board of Directors of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: ORIC), a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing treatments that address mechanisms of therapeutic resistance.
During Dr. Chacko’s tenure, ORIC has raised over $375mm in private and public financing, including its IPO in April 2020, has advanced its lead program into two Phase 1b trials, has in-licensed two additional programs, and is on track to file three INDs/CTAs in 2021. Before ORIC, Dr. Chacko was most recently CFO of Ignyta, a Nasdaq-listed precision oncology company acquired by Roche for $1.9 billion in February 2018. At Ignyta, he had a broad operational role and helped raise over $500 million in the capital. Before Ignyta, Dr. Chacko was an investor at TPG Capital, where he helped lead teams that completed acquisitions having an aggregate value of over $10 billion. Before that, he was a consultant serving healthcare clients at McKinsey & Company.
Dr. Chacko currently serves on the board of directors of 4D Molecular Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FDMT) and chairs the Western Regional Selection Committee for the Marshall Scholarship. He previously served on the board of directors of Turning Point Therapeutics, Bonti (acquired by Allergan), EnvisionRx (acquired by Rite Aid), RentPath, and the Packard Children’s Health Alliance at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford; and he was a board observer to Par Pharmaceutical (acquired by Endo), IMS Health and Quintiles Transnational.
“I’m excited to join Bright Peak’s Board of Directors and look forward to working alongside the executive team and my fellow board members to build a leading biotechnology company delivering novel and disease-modifying immunotherapies for patients suffering from cancer and autoimmune disorders,” said Dr. Chacko.
Dr. Chacko concurrently received his MD with AOA honors from UCLA and his MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He also received an MSc from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and undergraduate degrees from the University of Southern California, where he graduated as the University Valedictorian.
About Bright Peak
Bright Peak is a privately held biotechnology company based in San Diego, USA, and Basel, Switzerland dedicated to creating next-generation cytokine immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune disease. Bright Peak is pioneering a novel technology to chemically synthesize enhanced and conjugatable cytokines that exploits the potent biological activity of cytokines while avoiding the severe side effects associated with first-generation therapies. Bright Peak’s enhanced cytokines can be easily conjugated to a diverse array of molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies, creating a novel class of “Bright Peak Immunocytokines”. Bright Peak is funded by a syndicate of leading healthcare investors.
For more information: https://brightpeaktx.com/
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