Autolus Announces Appointment of Edgar Braendle, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Development Officer

LONDON, July 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, today announced the appointment of Edgar Braendle M.D., Ph.D., as chief development officer. Dr Braendle is joining Autolus’ executive team today and will lead the company's development organization.

“Edgar joins Autolus at an exciting time, with our lead program obe-cel in a pivotal study for the treatment of relapsed/refractory adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL),” said Dr. Christian Itin, chief executive officer of Autolus. “His in-depth oncology development experience and leadership skills, acquired over the course of his extensive career, will be invaluable in progressing obe-cel through its first pivotal study and to start the planning and preparations for our first BLA filing.”

"Driving the first potentially curative and well tolerated therapy for adult ALL patients to approval is a unique opportunity given the underserved nature of this disease,” said Dr. Braendle. "I look forward to working with my colleagues at Autolus and our academic collaborators to realize the opportunities, not just for obe-cel, but across our pipeline of next generation CAR T therapies."

Dr. Braendle is an experienced oncologist. He joins Autolus from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Oncology (SDPO), where he held the position of Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Development and was responsible for leading the global oncology development programs of Sumitomo Dainippon. At SDPO, he led the full range of development functions spanning from early and late-stage clinical development, medical affairs, clinical operation, project management, CMC, regulatory affairs, quality, bio-statistics, data management, PV & drug safety, and clinical pharmacology. Prior to that, he held the role of Executive VP, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Boston Biomedical Inc. Previously, Dr. Braendle served as President and CEO of ARUP Laboratories, a national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory. Prior to this, he spent more than a decade at Novartis, where he served as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Companion Diagnostics leading the company's precision medicine approach. In an earlier role as Vice President, Global Head of Oncology Biologics, Dr. Braendle led the development of oncology biologics in early to late stages. He started his industry career at Schering AG. Dr. Braendle received a medical degree and training in hematologic malignancies and solid tumor oncology, pharmacology and urology at the University of Aachen, University of Bonn, and the University of Ulm in Germany.

About Autolus Therapeutics plc
Autolus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Using a broad suite of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, the company is engineering precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and eliminate these cells. Autolus has a pipeline of product candidates in development for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. For more information, please visit www.autolus.com.

About obe-cel 
obe-cel is a CD19 CAR T cell investigational therapy designed to overcome the limitations in clinical activity and safety compared to current CD19 CAR T cell therapies. Designed to have a fast target binding off-rate to minimize excessive activation of the programmed T cells, obe-cel may reduce toxicity and be less prone to T cell exhaustion, which could enhance persistence and improve the ability of the programmed T cells to engage in serial killing of target cancer cells. In collaboration with our academic partner, UCL, obe-cel is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in adult ALL and B-NHL. The company has also progressed obe-cel to the FELIX study, a potential pivotal study.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, and in some cases can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "could," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and "believes." These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future clinical development, efficacy, safety and therapeutic potential of obe-cel, including progress, expectations as to the reporting of data, conduct and timing and potential future clinical activity and milestones; expectations regarding the initiation, design and reporting of data from clinical trials. Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks that Autolus’ preclinical or clinical programs do not advance or result in approved products on a timely or cost effective basis or at all; the results of early clinical trials are not always being predictive of future results; the cost, timing and results of clinical trials; that many product candidates do not become approved drugs on a timely or cost effective basis or at all; the ability to enroll patients in clinical trials; possible safety and efficacy concerns; and the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Autolus’ business. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Autolus’ actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in Autolus' Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2021, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Autolus' subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Autolus undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Contact:

Lucinda Crabtree, PhD
Vice President, Business Strategy and Planning
+44 (0) 7587 372 619 
l.crabtree@autolus.com

Julia Wilson
+44 (0) 7818 430877
j.wilson@autolus.com

Susan A. Noonan
S.A. Noonan Communications
+1-212-966-3650
susan@sanoonan.com