Release Details

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cerulean Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: CERU) today announced the appointment of Stuart A. Arbuckle to its Board of Directors, effective as of June 26, 2015. Mr. Arbuckle currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated where he oversees Vertex's global commercial team.

"We are pleased to welcome Stuart to the Cerulean Board," said Christopher D. T. Guiffre, President & Chief Executive Officer of Cerulean. "Stuart has extensive commercial oncology expertise, having held multiple leadership roles at Amgen, Inc., including as head of the US Oncology Business Unit, where he led sales, marketing, patient advocacy and access efforts for Amgen's portfolio of cancer medicines. Stuart's appointment comes at an opportune time as Cerulean begins to develop the commercial strategy for our lead nanoparticle-drug conjugate, or NDC, CRLX101."

"In order to make breakthroughs in the fight against cancer, there is a need to apply biological insights and develop unique technological approaches," commented Mr. Arbuckle. "Cerulean's Dynamic Tumor Targeting™ Platform and lead NDC, CRLX101, represent this type of novel approach to treat cancer. I look forward to working with the other board members and supporting management as the company seeks to develop and commercialize CRLX101 and the other NDCs in the Cerulean clinical pipeline."

In his current position at Vertex, Mr. Arbuckle oversees the global commercial team responsible for sales, marketing, patient support, market research and other activities in support of approved medicines. Prior to joining Vertex, Mr. Arbuckle held multiple commercial leadership roles at Amgen, Inc., including Vice President and General Manager, Oncology Business Unit. He was responsible for sales and marketing efforts for Aranesp^®, Neulasta^® and NEUPOGEN^®, which collectively generated more than $5 billion in sales in 2011, and led the successful launches of XGEVA^® and Nplate^®. He also served as Vice President and Regional General Manager and led efforts to expand Amgen's presence in Japan and emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to these roles, Mr. Arbuckle spent more than 15 years at GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), where he held sales and marketing roles of increasing responsibility for medicines aimed at treating respiratory, metabolic, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and other diseases. Mr. Arbuckle holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in pharmacology and physiology from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

About CRLX101

CRLX101 is a nanoparticle-drug conjugate (NDC) designed to concentrate in tumors and slowly release its anti-cancer payload, camptothecin, inside tumor cells. CRLX101 inhibits topoisomerase 1 (topo 1), which is involved in cellular replication, and also inhibits hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), which research suggests is a master regulator of cancer cell survival mechanisms. CRLX101 has shown activity in four different tumor types, both as monotherapy and in combination with other cancer treatments. CRLX101 is in Phase 2 clinical development and has been dosed in more than 250 patients. The U.S. FDA has granted CRLX101 Orphan Drug designation for the treatment of ovarian cancer and Fast Track designation in combination with Avastin in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

About CRLX301

CRLX301 is a dynamically tumor-targeted NDC designed to concentrate in tumors and slowly release its anti-cancer payload, docetaxel, inside tumor cells. In preclinical studies, CRLX301 delivers up to 10 times more docetaxel into tumors, compared to an equivalent milligram dose of commercially available docetaxel and was similar or better to docetaxel in seven of seven animal models, with a statistically significant survival benefit seen in five of those seven models. In addition, preclinical data show that CRLX301 had lower toxicity than has been reported with docetaxel in similar preclinical studies. CRLX301 is currently in Phase 1 clinical development.

About Cerulean Pharma

The Cerulean team is committed to improving treatment for people living with cancer. We apply our Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to create a portfolio of NDCs designed to selectively attack tumor cells, reduce toxicity by sparing the body's normal cells, and enable therapeutic combinations. Our first platform-generated candidate, CRLX101, is in multiple clinical trials in combination with other cancer treatments, all of which aim to unlock the power of combination therapy. Our second platform-generated candidate, CRLX301, is in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial. For more information, please visit www.ceruleanrx.com.

About Cerulean's Dynamic Tumor Targeting™ Platform

Cerulean's Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform creates NDCs that are designed to provide safer and more effective cancer treatments. We believe our NDCs concentrate their anti-cancer payloads inside tumors while sparing normal tissue because they are small enough to pass through the "leaky" vasculature present in tumors but are too large to pass through the wall of healthy blood vessels. Once inside tumors, our NDCs enter tumor cells where they slowly release anti-cancer payloads from within the tumor cells.

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about the clinical development of our product candidates, statements about our estimated research and development expenses and sufficiency of cash to fund specified use of cash and other statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "hypothesize," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, availability of funding sufficient for our foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 6, 2015, and in other filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.

Avastin^® is a trademark of Genentech, Inc.

Aranesp^®, Neulasta^®, NEUPOGEN^®, XGEVA^® and Nplate^® are trademarks of Amgen, Inc.

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Cerulean Pharma Inc.
Aurora Krause, 617-551-9627
Corporate Communications
[email protected]

Source: Cerulean Pharma Inc.

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