Climb Bio Appoints Edgar D. Charles, M.D., MSc as Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Charles, Accomplished Immunology-Focused Drug Developer, Brings More Than 20 years of Biopharma Leadership, Clinical Development, and Operations Expertise
Company Also Hires Cindy J. Driscoll, MBA, Financial Executive with Over Two Decades of Experience Guiding Biotechnology Companies, as Senior Vice President, Finance
WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass., June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Climb Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLYM), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for patients with immune-mediated diseases, today announced the appointments of Edgar D. Charles, M.D., MSc as its Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Cindy J. Driscoll, MBA as Senior Vice President, Finance.
"The expansion of our leadership team comes at a pivotal time for Climb Bio. Dr. Charles is a highly respected physician-scientist with deep expertise in immunology and a proven track record translating scientific innovation into successful clinical development and product approvals," said Aoife Brennan, M.B., Ch.B., President and Chief Executive Officer of Climb Bio. "His R&D leadership experience, combined with two decades of development and operations expertise, will be invaluable as we execute our budoprutug and CLYM116 clinical studies and aim to maximize the expansive therapeutic potential of these promising programs. I'm also pleased to welcome Cindy Driscoll as our Senior Vice President, Finance. Cindy brings extensive experience leading financial and administrative functions across biopharma companies, and her background will be instrumental as we continue to advance our pipeline and drive our company forward."
Dr. Charles brings over 20 years of experience in immunology-focused pharmaceutical development, academic research, and clinical medicine to the role. He joins Climb Bio from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), where he held clinical roles of increasing responsibility since joining in 2015, leading the development of numerous therapeutic candidates through IND, Phase 1-4 clinical trials, and FDA product approval. Dr. Charles most recently served as Vice President and Senior Global Program Lead, Immunology at BMS, where he led the immunology global program organization, overseeing strategy and execution across a diverse immune therapeutics pipeline spanning rheumatology, pulmonology, dermatology, and gastroenterology. Prior to his tenure at BMS, Dr. Charles held roles at Merck & Co., leading global clinical development programs in infectious diseases and vaccines, and served as an Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University where his research focused on virus-induced autoimmunity and B cell biology.
Dr. Charles holds a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alabama School of Medicine, a Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation from Rockefeller University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago. He completed his Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at New York University School of Medicine and has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications.
"The encouraging budoprutug clinical data generated to date suggest that this program could have enormous therapeutic potential across various serious diseases where B cells play a central pathological role," said Dr. Charles. "I am thrilled to join Climb Bio as we embark on budoprutug clinical studies in our initial set of target indications and aim to move the subcutaneous formulation into clinical development. I am also excited about the opportunity to advance the development of CLYM116, a potentially best-in-class anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody. The company's commitment to scientific excellence and patient-centered innovation aligns perfectly with my passion for developing transformative therapies for patients in need."
Cindy Driscoll is a seasoned finance and accounting executive with over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, with deep expertise in building and scaling financial and administrative operations to support corporate growth. Prior to joining Climb Bio, she served as Senior Vice President of Finance at HC Bioscience, where she oversaw all financial reporting, budgeting, audit and tax functions, in addition to leading human resources, IT, and facilities. Earlier in her career, Ms. Driscoll held senior finance roles at Magenta Therapeutics and Tokai Pharmaceuticals, where she managed the development of finance and G&A infrastructure to support IPOs and public financings totaling more than $450 million. She also led the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and drove operational efficiency across core administrative functions. Ms. Driscoll holds an MBA from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from SUNY Oswego.
In connection with the appointments, the company has granted inducement equity awards to each of Dr. Charles and Ms. Driscoll, pursuant to the company's 2025 Inducement Plan, as an inducement material to each employee entering into employment with the company in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). Dr. Charles was granted a non-statutory stock option to purchase up to 600,000 shares of common stock and Ms. Driscoll was granted a non-statutory stock option to purchase up to 200,000 shares of common stock. The inducement equity awards were granted on June 17, 2025 and have an exercise price of $1.20 per share, which is equal to the closing price per share of the company's common stock as reported by The Nasdaq Global Market on June 17, 2025. In addition, the options have a ten-year term and vests over four years, with 25% of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of the applicable employee's start date and the remainder of the shares underlying the options vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to the applicable employee's continued service with the company through the applicable vesting dates. The inducement grants are subject to the terms and conditions of an award agreement and the company's 2025 Inducement Plan.
About Climb Bio, Inc.
Climb Bio, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for patients with immune-mediated diseases. The company's pipeline includes, budoprutug, an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody that has demonstrated B cell depletion and has potential to treat a broad range of B-cell mediated diseases, and CLYM116, an anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody currently in IND-enabling studies for IgA nephropathy. For more information, please visit climbbio.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation statements regarding: future expectations, plans and prospects for Climb Bio; expectations regarding the therapeutic benefits, clinical potential and clinical development of budoprutug and CLYM116; the trial design for the planned clinical trials of budoprutug; the anticipated timelines for initiating clinical trials of budoprutug for primary membranous nephropathy, immune thrombocytopenia and systemic lupus erythematosus; plans to optimize the administration of budoprutug; the anticipated benefits of Climb Bio's license agreement with Beijing Mabworks Biotech Co., Ltd. (Mabworks); and other statements containing the words "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," "will," "working" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Climb Bio may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, important risks and uncertainties associated with: the ability of Climb Bio to timely and successfully achieve or recognize the anticipated benefits of its acquisition of Tenet Medicines, Inc. and its license agreement with Mabworks; changes in applicable laws or regulation; the possibility that Climb Bio may be adversely affected by other economic, business and/or competitive factors; Climb Bio's ability to advance budoprutug and CLYM116 on the timelines expected or at all and to obtain and maintain necessary approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities; obtaining and maintaining the necessary approvals from investigational review boards at clinical trial sites and independent data safety monitoring boards; replicating in clinical trials positive results found in early-stage clinical trials; competing successfully with other companies that are seeking to develop treatments for primary membranous nephropathy, immune thrombocytopenia, systemic lupus erythematosus, IgA nephropathy and other immune-mediated diseases; maintaining or protecting intellectual property rights related to budoprutug, CLYM116 and/or its other product candidates; managing expenses; and raising the substantial additional capital needed, on the timeline necessary, to continue development of budoprutug, CLYM116 and any other product candidates Climb Bio may develop. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Climb Bio's actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the "Risk Factors" section, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties and other important factors, in Climb Bio's most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Climb Bio's views as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing Climb Bio's views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof. Climb Bio anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Climb Bio's views to change. However, while Climb Bio may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Climb Bio specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law.
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