Sutro Biopharma Announces Expansion of Leadership Team

Sutro Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRO), a clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company focused on the application of precise protein engineering and rational design to create next-generation cancer and autoimmune therapeutics, announced today the appointment of two executives to the Company’s leadership team. Nicole M. Chieffo, MBA, has joined as Vice President of Clinical Operations and Werner Rubas, Ph.D., has joined as Vice President of Preclinical Development.

Nicole Chieffo has over 25 years of clinical operations and development experience. Nicole joins Sutro from Janssen Pharmaceuticals where she previously held Sr. Director, Oncology Global Operations Head and Lead Oncology Clinical Scientist positions.  Nicole worked directly with Janssen’s medical oncology and hematology physician team leaders in advancing the Early and Late-Stage Research and Development portfolio.  In this capacity, Nicole led and supported clinical operations at Janssen, resulting in successful approvals of ZYTIGA®, SYLVANT®, YONDELIS®, IMBRUVICA®, DARZALEX®, ERLEADA®, BALVERSA™, and RYBREVANT™. Prior to Janssen, Nicole was with Cougar Biotechnology Inc. (acquired by Janssen in 2009) and established the Clinical Operational infrastructure to manage the development of Abiraterone Acetate (Zytiga). Nicole held various operational positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals, a predecessor of Biogen Idec, and led the Global Clinical Development Teams for multiple indications (Non-Hodgkin’s and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, multiple solid tumors, and psoriasis) of target monoclonal antibodies.  Nicole has also held various clinical operations and development positions at Dura and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Immune Response Corporation, and Oncology Pre-Clinical Research positions at University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiation Oncology, and Adamantech Inc. Nicole holds degrees in Animal Science, a B.A. in Business Management, and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

Dr. Arturo Molina, Chief Medical Officer of Sutro commented, “We welcome Nicole to our clinical operations and development team; her extensive expertise and excellent leadership capability in clinical operations complement the expert clinical development, regulatory and biometrics teams in place. Nicole brings valued experience and industry knowledge as we continue to advance Sutro’s first two internally-developed ADCs, STRO-001 and STRO-002, through the clinic.”

Werner Rubas, Ph.D., brings to Sutro 30 years of biotech and pharmaceutical industry experience. Formerly, Dr. Rubas was at Nektar Therapeutics for over nine years, most recently as Executive Director in Non-Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics. At Nektar he provided leadership support, directed the generation of data packages for regulatory submissions of NKTR-214, NKTR-358, NKTR-262 and NKTR-255, filed a patent application for an immunotherapeutic tumor treatment method, and provided scientific input on cross-functional teams from research concepts to late stage development. Prior to Nektar, Dr. Werner was at Roche in Palo Alto, where he was the Associate Director of the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics group. Additionally, he has been a SPARK advisor at Stanford University since 2010 and lectures classes on Drug Development at UC Berkeley Extension. Dr. Rubas earned his Ph.D. from ETH, Zurich and received his pharmacy license from the School of Pharmacy at ETH, Zurich.

Trevor Hallam, Ph.D., President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer commented, “The collective expertise of our preclinical development team is a valued strength at Sutro as we focus on execution across robust and innovative clinical-stage programs. Werner brings a remarkable scope of accomplishments and experience to Sutro, with extensive research expertise in oncology and immune-modulatory therapeutics, to support the long-term potential of Sutro’s pipeline for cancer patients.”