CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cue Biopharma, Inc., (NASDAQ:CUE) a next-generation immunotherapy company developing a novel, proprietary class of biologics engineered to selectively modulate the human immune system to treat cancer, autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases, announced today the appointment of Bethany Mancilla as Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning. Mancilla, who most recently served as Vice President, Business Development at Amgen, brings extensive experience in immuno-oncology and more than 20 years of broad, multi-national business development experience to Cue Biopharma. Mancilla will oversee corporate strategy, financing initiatives, and business development, including the implementation of strategic collaborations based on Cue Biopharma’s Immuno-STAT^TM platform.

“Bethany is perfectly suited to maximize the opportunities we see arising from our Immuno-STAT platform,” said Daniel Passeri, M.Sc., J.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Cue Biopharma. “She has worked with a spectrum of companies that are developing targeted immune-modulating therapies, providing Bethany with deep expertise in this area. As a key member of our Senior Management Team, Bethany will further enhance Cue Biopharma’s corporate development and strategic positioning. On behalf of our board and management team, we welcome Bethany and look forward to her insights and contributions.”

“Immunotherapy research and development has made tremendous progress over the past five years, but there remains a significant need for better and safer treatments, opening the door for novel treatments for cancer, autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases. Cue Biopharma’s Immuno-STAT platform offers the potential for an off-the-shelf immunotherapy approach for a wide variety of indications,” said Mancilla. “The platform has already delivered its first clinical candidate, and I am excited to join the Cue Biopharma team to help advance and expand the potential value of the platform and to drive opportunities for patients and shareholders.”

Mancilla has more than 20 years of strategic biopharmaceutical business development experience defining, identifying, negotiating, maintaining and expanding drug discovery and development collaborations. Prior to joining Cue Biopharma, she served as Vice President, Business Development at Amgen, where she led a transaction team responsible for assessing and executing product licensing, co-development, co-commercialization, profit sharing, equity investment, joint venture, mergers and acquisition opportunities to optimize Amgen’s pipeline. Before joining Amgen, Mancilla was Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management at Micromet where she was responsible for establishing partnerships in the U.S. and creating an alliance-management capability. Prior to joining Micromet, she held business development roles of increasing responsibility at Pharmathene, Gene Logic, Lark Technologies, Sennes Drug Innovations, and BCM Technologies. Mancilla received her BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder and her MBA from the University of Houston, Texas.

About Cue Biopharma
Cue Biopharma is an innovative immunotherapy company developing a novel, proprietary class of biologics engineered to selectively modulate the human immune system to treat a broad range of cancers, autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases. We design biologics to engage and modulate the activity of disease-associated T cells in the patient’s body, with the goal of offering significant therapeutic benefits while potentially minimizing or eliminating unwanted side effects.

We believe our selective biologics allow us to target antigen-specific T cell populations in a variety of indications using a peptide – MHC complex for delivering T cell modulating effectors, such as IL-2. Once a biologic has been optimized, our approach offers the potential for readily exchanging peptides to target different T cell populations and indications using previously-validated drug frameworks developed from the Immuno-STAT^TM platform. This flexibility could truncate the drug selection and development process, moving effective therapeutics from discovery to clinical validation more rapidly and cost-efficiently than current industry standard timelines and costs.

Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, we are led by an experienced management team and scientific and clinical advisory board (SAB/CAB) with deep expertise in the design and clinical development of protein biologics, immunology and immuno-oncology.

For more information, visit www.cuebio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “project,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “strategy,” “future,” “likely” or other comparable terms. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding anticipated results of our drug development efforts, including study results, our expectations regarding regulatory developments and expected future operating results. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, our limited operating history, limited cash and a history of losses; our ability to achieve profitability; our ability to secure required U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or other governmental approvals for our product candidates and the breadth of any approved indication; negative or inconclusive results from our clinical studies or serious and unexpected drug-related side effects or other safety issues experienced by participants in our clinical trials; delays and changes in regulatory requirements, policy and guidelines including potential delays in submitting required regulatory applications to the FDA; our reliance on licensors, collaborations and strategic alliances; our ability to obtain adequate financing to fund our business operations in the future; and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed Quarterly Report(s) on Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Investor Contact:
John Woolford
Westwicke Partners
443-213-0506

Media Contact:
Cory Tromblee
Sam Brown Inc.
617-571-7220

Source: Cue Biopharma, Inc.