Allogene Therapeutics Adds Immunotherapy Luminaries, Thomas F. Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephan Grupp, M.D., Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic CAR T (AlloCAR T™) therapies for cancer, today announced the appointment of Thomas F. Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephan Grupp, M.D., Ph.D. to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB comprises experts across oncology, immunology, cell therapy, and drug discovery and development.

“We are privileged to welcome Drs. Gajewski and Grupp to our Scientific Advisory Board,” said Rafael Amado, M.D., Executive Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer of Allogene. “The additions of Dr. Gajewski and Dr. Grupp further enhance what has become one of the most distinguished cell therapy SABs in the industry and is an important component of our strategy to lead the development of allogeneic cell therapies today and tomorrow.”

New Allogene SAB members:

• Thomas F. Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D. is the AbbVie Foundation Professor in Cancer Immunotherapy and practicing physician at the University of Chicago. Throughout his career Dr. Gajewski’s work has focused on understanding fundamental aspects of anti-tumor immunity and bringing these concepts forward from the laboratory into clinical trial testing in patients. Under Dr. Gajewski’s leadership, his laboratory uncovered a role for downstream resistance pathways allowing tumor evasion from the immune response. An author of more than 250 manuscripts, 20 book chapters, and a speaker at over 200 scientific conferences, Dr. Gajewski has served as past president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, is founding editor of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, is past chair of the Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy grant review study section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has served on the program committees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for  Cancer Research (AACR), and is a grant reviewer for the Melanoma Research Alliance and Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Gajewski has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions and in 2015 was designated a Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago. He holds a B.S., Ph.D. in Immunology, and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.
  
   
• Stephan Grupp, M.D., Ph.D. is the Novotny Professor of Pediatrics and co-lead of the Abramson Cancer Center pediatrics program at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He also serves as the Section Chief of Cellular Therapy and Transplant in Division of Oncology, Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program, and Medical Director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His primary area of clinical research is the use of CAR T and other engineered cell therapies in pediatric cancers and other disorders such as sickle cell disease. He led all of the pediatric/young adult ALL trials of CTL019, now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel), as well as the global registration trial for CTL019 (NEJM 2013, 2014, 2018). His primary laboratory interest is the development of new cell therapy treatments for pediatric cancers. Over 200 scientific publications have been generated by Dr. Grupp’s research, and he has received numerous achievement and impact awards for his contributions to the cell therapy and oncology fields, including his election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. Dr. Grupp received his M.D. and his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed multiple fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The new advisors join existing SAB members, Chairman Ton Schumacher, Ph.D., Donald B. Kohn, M.D., Malcolm K. Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., Matthew Porteus, M.D., Ph.D., Owen Witte, M.D., Stephen J. Forman, M.D., and Wendell Lim, Ph.D.

About Allogene Therapeutics

Allogene Therapeutics, with headquarters in South San Francisco, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR T™) therapies for cancer. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of “off-the-shelf” CAR T cell therapy candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. For more information, please visit , and follow @AllogeneTx on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements for Allogene

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the ability to develop allogeneic CAR T therapies for cancer and the potential benefits of AlloCAR T therapy. Various factors may cause differences between Allogene’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail in Allogene’s filings with the SEC, including without limitation in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.  Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Allogene assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

Kymriah® is a registered trademark of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

AlloCAR T™ is a trademark of Allogene Therapeutics, Inc.

Allogene Media/Investor Contact:

Christine Cassiano

Chief Communications Officer

(714) 552-0326