BIOMEA Fusion Strengthens its Executive Team with Appointment of Franco Valle as Chief Financial Officer
29 June 2021 - 9:10AM
Biomea Fusion, Inc. (“Biomea”) (Nasdaq: BMEA), a preclinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of irreversible small molecules to treat patients with genetically
defined cancers, announced the appointment of Franco Valle as Chief
Financial Officer. Mr. Valle is an accomplished financial expert
who brings extensive experiences to Biomea, in particular with
building the necessary infrastructure to support clinical and
operational growth within biotech companies. Mr. Valle will also
assume the role of Principal Financial Officer and Principal
Accounting Officer upon joining.
Recently, Mr. Valle served as Principal Accounting Officer &
Senior Vice President of Finance at Eidos (Nasdaq: EIDX), a former
publicly traded, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which
merged with BridgeBio (Nasdaq: BBIO) for $2.83 Billion earlier in
2021. Prior to Eidos, Mr. Valle served as the Principal Accounting
Officer and Controller at Iovance Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: IOVA)
from 2016 until 2018. Mr. Valle also worked at Pharmacyclics ,
which he joined in 2012 and supported through its merger with
Abbvie as Senior Accounting Officer of the company. Mr. Valle
is a certified public accountant and started his career in 2005 at
Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, where he spent six years in the Life
Science, Biotech and Venture Capital Group.
“I am really excited to welcome Franco to our leadership team,”
said Tom Butler, Biomea’s CEO and Chairman of the Board. “His
extensive experience in financial operations will help us build
systems that will support our growth as we develop our pipeline of
preclinical and clinical assets. We are on track to submit our IND
to the FDA for BMF-219 during the second half of this year, and our
strong balance sheet provides us ample funding not only to fully
explore BMF-219 in multiple tumor types, but also to build out our
proprietary irreversible platform, and progress multiple earlier
stage pipeline molecules into the clinic. On behalf of the entire
Biomea team, I welcome Franco and look forward to his
contributions.”
“I have worked together with Franco in the past, and I could not
be happier he joined as the CFO of Biomea,” said Eric Aguiar, M.D.,
Lead Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee at Biomea.
“Franco is very knowledgeable, structured, and will help Biomea
continue to build organizational systems to grow and support the
full clinical exploration of Biomea’s portfolio of small
molecules.”
“I am thrilled to join Biomea, particularly on the heels of its
successful IPO in April and strong pipeline of clinical catalysts.
I have worked with many of the leadership in the past and know
first-hand their track record and commitment to develop novel
irreversible small molecules that transform treatments in a
targeted, patient friendly manner,” said Mr. Valle.
Mr. Valle will be joined by Terrie Phan, who will become Vice
President and Corporate Controller of Biomea. Ms. Phan is also a
licensed CPA and has worked most of her career supporting
growth-oriented biotech companies, serving as a Controller, expert
Accounting Manager as well as a Financial Planner and SOX
Compliance Manager. Mr. Valle will assume the financial leadership
from Sunny Lee. The company thanks Ms. Lee for her contributions
and support during the IPO process and the transition from being a
private company to a public corporation.
About Biomea Fusion
Biomea Fusion is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
focused on the discovery and development of irreversible small
molecules to treat patients with genetically defined cancers. An
irreversible small molecule drug is a synthetic compound that forms
a permanent bond to its target protein and offers a number of
potential advantages over conventional reversible drugs, including
greater target selectivity, lower drug exposure and the ability to
drive a deeper, more durable response. Leveraging its extensive
expertise in irreversible binding chemistry and development, the
Company built its proprietary FUSION System discovery platform to
advance a pipeline of novel irreversible, small molecule therapies.
The lead product candidate, BMF-219, is an orally bioavailable,
potent and selective irreversible inhibitor of menin, an important
transcriptional regulator known to play a direct role in oncogenic
signaling in multiple cancers. In preclinical studies,
administration of BMF-219 has resulted in robust anti-tumor
responses across a range of liquid and solid tumor models and has
been well-tolerated in animal studies. Biomea Fusion is developing
BMF-219 for the treatment of liquid and solid tumors that are
highly dependent on menin, including leukemias containing the mixed
lineage leukemia (“MLL”) fusion protein. The Company is currently
completing investigational new drug (“IND”) enabling studies and
expects to file an IND application with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration in the second half of 2021. Beyond BMF-219, the
Company is utilizing its novel platform to develop irreversible
treatments against other high-value oncogenic drivers of cancer and
expects to nominate its second development candidate in the first
half of 2022. Biomea Fusion’s goal is to utilize its capabilities
and platform to become a leader in developing irreversible small
molecules in order to maximize the depth and durability of clinical
benefit when treating various cancers.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters
that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Because such statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
the potential safety, efficacy, and continued development of
BMF-219, the timing for completing the IND filing or starting the
clinical development, the building out our proprietary irreversible
platform and progress made in early-stage small pipeline molecules
through their preclinical development, including the timing for
nominating development candidates in each program. These statements
often include words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,”
“intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “seek,” “will,” “may,” or similar
expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or
circumstances that are beyond the Company’s control. Any
forward-looking statements in this statement are based on
management’s current expectations of future events and are subject
to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in
or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risks that
contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking
statements include: the success, cost, and timing of the Company’s
product candidate development activities and planned IND-enabling
and clinical trials, the Company’s ability to execute on its
strategy, regulatory developments in the United States, the
Company’s ability to fund operations, and the impact that the
current COVID-19 pandemic will have on the Company’s clinical
trials and pre-clinical studies, supply chain, and operations, as
well as those risks and uncertainties set forth in the Company’s
Quarterly Report on Form Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021,
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 27, 202,
and its other filings filed with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission filed from time. Although the Company believes
that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements
are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the events and
circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be
achieved or occur, and the timing of events and circumstances and
actual results could differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking
statements contained in this press release speak only as of the
date on which they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation
to update such statements to reflect events that occur or
circumstances that exist after the date on which they were
made.
Biomea Contact:
Ramses ErdtmannPresident - Biomea Fusion,
Inc.re@biomeafusion.comPhone: 805-455-1313
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