SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutro Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRO), a clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company focused on the application of precise protein engineering and rational design to create next-generation cancer and autoimmune therapeutics, today announced that Heidi Hunter has been appointed to Sutro's Board of Directors.

"Heidi is an accomplished leader with considerable experience driving the successful development and commercialization of new medicines," said Bill Newell, Chief Executive Officer of Sutro. "We are delighted to have her join our Board as we continue to advance STRO-001 and STRO-002 through the clinic."

Connie Matsui, Chair of Sutro's Board of Directors commented, "Heidi brings a breadth of valued expertise to the Sutro Board as the company is making substantial effort to accelerate the development of innovative treatments for cancer patients."

Heidi Hunter has over 25 years of experience in biotech across the pharmaceutical value chain, from clinical and commercial development through to launch execution. She is currently President at Cardinal Health, where she leads the Specialty Solutions Business. Prior to Cardinal Health, Ms. Hunter was Senior Vice President of the Global Immunology Business Unit at UCB in Brussels. She has also held leadership positions at Boehringer Ingelheim as Senior Vice President and General Manager in its Global Biosimilars Business, and at IQVIA as Vice President of Global Business Partnerships Commercial Solutions. Ms. Hunter also held senior leadership positions in commercial and strategic marketing for biologics and oncology at Centocor, a J&J company. She also led oncology business at Wyeth (today part of Pfizer) in the U.S. and Novo Nordisk in Denmark. Early in Ms. Hunter's career, she led sales and marketing at Ciba-Geigy in Switzerland (today part of Novartis). She is currently on the board of Vicore Pharma. Ms. Hunter earned B.A. from The University of Michigan and her M.B.A. from The University of Chicago.

About Sutro Biopharma  
Sutro Biopharma, Inc., located in South San Francisco, is a clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company. Using precise protein engineering and rational design, Sutro is advancing next-generation oncology therapeutics. 

Sutro's proprietary and integrated cell-free protein synthesis platform XpressCF® and site-specific conjugation platform XpressCF+™ led to the discovery of STRO-001 and STRO-002, Sutro's first two internally-developed ADCs. STRO-001 is a CD74-targeting ADC currently under investigation in a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with advanced B-cell malignancies and was granted Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA for multiple myeloma. STRO-002, a folate receptor alpha (FolRα)-targeting ADC, is currently being investigated in a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with ovarian and endometrial cancers and was granted Fast Track designation by the FDA for ovarian cancer. A third product candidate, CC-99712, a BCMA-targeting ADC, which is part of Sutro's collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, formerly Celgene Corporation, is enrolling patients for its Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with multiple myeloma and has received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA. A fourth product candidate, M1231, a MUC1-EGFR, first-in-class bispecific ADC, which is part of Sutro's collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, known as EMD Serono in the U.S. and Canada (EMD Serono), is enrolling patients for its Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with metastatic solid tumors, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. These four product candidates resulted from Sutro's XpressCF® and XpressCF+™ technology platforms. Bristol Myers Squibb and EMD Serono have worldwide development and commercialization rights for CC-99712 and M1231, respectively, for which Sutro is entitled to milestone or contingent payments and tiered royalties. 

Sutro is dedicated to transforming the lives of cancer patients by creating medicines with improved therapeutic profiles for areas of unmet need. To date, Sutro's platform has led to ADCs, bispecific antibodies, cytokine-based immuno-oncology therapies, and vaccines directed at precedented targets in clinical indications where the current standard of care is suboptimal. 

The platform allows it to accelerate discovery and development of potential first-in-class and best-in-class molecules through rapid and systematic evaluation of protein structure-activity relationships to create optimized homogeneous product candidates. In addition to developing its own oncology pipeline, Sutro is collaborating with select pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to discover and develop novel, next-generation therapeutics.

Follow Sutro on Twitter, @Sutrobio, and at www.sutrobio.com to learn more about our passion for changing the future of oncology.

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, including, but not limited to, anticipated preclinical and clinical development activities, timing of announcements of clinical results, potential benefits of the Company's product candidates and platform, potential future milestone and royalty payments, and potential market opportunities for the Company's product candidates. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee future events, results, actions, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and the timing and results of biotechnology development and  potential regulatory approval is inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual activities or results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement, including risks and uncertainties related to the Company's ability to advance its product candidates, the receipt and timing of potential regulatory designations, approvals and commercialization of product candidates, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's business, clinical trial sites, supply chain and manufacturing facilities, the Company's ability to maintain and recognize the benefits of certain designations received by product candidates, the timing and results of preclinical and clinical trials, the Company's ability to fund development activities and achieve development goals, the Company's ability to protect intellectual property, the value of the Company's holdings of Vaxcyte common stock, and the Company's commercial collaborations with third parties and other risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Investor Contacts 
Annie J. Chang 
Sutro Biopharma 
(650) 801-5728 
ajchang@sutrobio.com 

Media Contacts 
Maggie Beller 
Russo Partners 
(646) 942-5631 
Maggie.beller@russopartnersllc.com 

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SOURCE Sutro Biopharma