NKGen Biotech Appoints Paul Y. Song, MD as Chief Executive Officer
SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NKGen Biotech, a biotechnology company harnessing the power of the body’s immune system through the development of natural killer cell therapies, today announced the appointment of Paul Y. Song, MD as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective January 10, 2023.“We are thrilled to welcome Paul as our new CEO and the experience, vision and leadership Paul brings to NKGen Biotech,” said Sangwoo Park, Founder and Chairman of NKGen Biotech. “Paul will play a critical role in leading our company’s corporate strategy and the advancement of our potentially life-changing clinical portfolio in oncology and neurodegenerative disease. Paul’s passion for helping patients along with his focused expertise in NK cell therapeutics will provide NKGen with the guidance it needs to successfully meet its milestones and continue to show significant progress towards commercialization.”
“I am honored to lead NKGen at this pivotal time as the Company advances its novel NK cell therapies through the clinic and in new disease indications,” stated Paul Y. Song, MD, CEO of NKGen Biotech. “I strongly believe in the Company’s science and platform, unmatched manufacturing expertise, and talented leadership team making NKGen uniquely positioned to expand the overall NK cell therapy market well beyond oncology. NKGen has several key milestones on the immediate horizon in 2023 for both our autologous SNK01 and our allogeneic SNK02 NK cell therapy, and I am very optimistic that we will soon be able to show the true potential of our enhanced NK cell products to address a high unmet need for disease modifying treatment in advanced cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.”
Dr. Song has nearly 25 years of experience as a biopharma executive, clinician, and translational medicine expert. Most recently, Dr. Song served as Co-founder and CEO at FuseBio Therapeutics, a company developing immune modulating therapies for cancer. Prior to FuseBio he was Chief Medical Officer at NKMax America leading the NK cell therapy clinical program strategy; CMO at Cynvenio Biosystems, a clinical stage genomic peripheral blood monitoring company; and CMO/Senior Advisor for Berg Health. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Song was an attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Samuel Oschin Cancer Center.
Dr. Song is a board-certified Radiation Oncologist with expertise in translational medicine, clinical trials, and therapeutic development within oncology and immunology. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and received his M.D. degree from The George Washington University. Dr. Song completed his residency in radiation oncology at the University of Chicago where he served as Chief Resident and completed a brachytherapy fellowship at the Institute Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France. He was also awarded an ASTRO research fellowship in 1995 for his research in radiation inducible gene therapy.
*About NKGen Biotech*
NKGen Biotech, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative autologous, allogeneic, and CAR-NK Natural Killer (NK) cell therapeutics. Leveraging our proprietary cell expansion and activation technology and cutting-edge cell manufacturing expertise, we have the ability to infinitely expand natural killer cells while significantly enhancing cytotoxicity across our peripheral blood-derived products. NKGen Biotech’s lead product candidate, SNK01 (autologous NK cell therapy) is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of advanced refractory solid tumors both as a monotherapy and in combination with other agents, including checkpoint inhibitors and cell engagers. SNK02 (allogeneic NK cell therapy) received IND clearance in 4Q2022 with clinical trials planned in 2023. NKGen Biotech is committed to the vision of executing on our clinical strategies with the goal of commercializing our NK cell therapies to help save and sustain patients’ lives worldwide. The company and its commercially licensed cGMP facility are headquartered in Santa Ana, California, USA. For more information, please visit www.nkgenbiotech.com.
Contact:
Denise Chua, MBA, CLS, MT (ASCP)
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
949-396-6830
dchua@nkgenbiotech.com