BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TetraGenetics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody therapeutics for ion-channel mediated disorders, announced today the addition of three new board members: Alison Taunton-Rigby Ph.D., OBE, Ellen Baron Ph.D. and Daniel Grau M. Phil.

CEO and Chairman of TetraGenetics, Doug Kahn said, “I’m pleased to welcome Drs. Taunton-Rigby, Baron and Daniel Grau to our board. They bring a host of experience and industry knowledge from lab-based drug discovery to financing and governance. I know they will contribute in many substantive ways to TetraGenetics’ continued growth and development.”

Dr. Taunton-Rigby is a well-known executive, leader and entrepreneur in the world of healthcare, life sciences and financial services. She has served as a Director on a number of public, private, college, foundation, non-profit, ESOP and mutual fund boards, and currently sits on the boards of Blumont Inc., the International Women’s Leadership Foundation, and Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Taunton-Rigby has served as President and CEO of several public and private biotechnology companies including Mitotix, Cambridge Biotech Corporation, and Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, and held senior executive positions at Biogen, Genzyme and other life science companies.

Dr. Baron is an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech executive, investment banker, and venture capitalist, who currently focuses on providing strategic advice, capital financings and merger and acquisition direction to emerging growth companies in the healthcare sector.

She brings to the TetraGenetics board an extensive background in corporate development, venture capital, angel investing, financings, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and product development/commercialization for pharmaceuticals and biotherapeutics. Dr. Baron is a Managing Director at Outcome Capital, a strategic investment banking firm serving the life science and technology sectors. Previously, Dr. Baron was a Managing Director at Healthios Capital Markets, a Chicago-based investment bank and was a Partner at Oxford Bioscience Partners, a healthcare venture capital firm.

Daniel Grau, M.Phil., is an experienced biopharma entrepreneur and operating executive. He currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director at Sojournix and an advisor to HotSpot Therapeutics. Previously Mr. Grau served as President at Heptares Therapeutics, Chief Executive Officer at Cortria, and Chief Operating Officer at CombinatoRx, and was a member of the Product Advisory Board at Concert Pharmaceuticals and a business advisor to Nimbus Therapeutics.

“I have been following the progress at TetraGenetics for some time and have been watching their evolution as a pioneer in antibody therapeutics to clinically relevant ion-channels. I look forward to working with CEO Doug Kahn and his team as well as other members of the Board. I believe my solid understanding of the global healthcare environment will be highly complimentary to the existing board,” noted Dr. Baron.

Dr. Taunton-Rigby added, “TetraGenetics is an exciting company that is on the forefront of a new field of drug discovery. I am particularly excited by the company’s unique and focused approach to developing biologics that target ion channel membrane proteins. Ion channel targets are well validated and associated with many treated and currently untreated disorders. It would be challenging to find a more exciting group of potential development candidates.”

“I’ve been intrigued by TetraGenetics’ unique drug discovery capabilities since I first met the company while President of Heptares,” said Mr. Grau. “The company’s strong business development track record evidences clearly that big pharma is turning to TetraGenetics as a leading science and technology platform for antibody drug development against difficult membrane targets.”

Dr. Baron, Dr. Taunton-Rigby and Mr. Grau join TetraGenetics’ current board members; Theodore Clark, PhD, Robert Gailus, Douglas Kahn, Peter Kiener, PhD, and Christopher Taron, PhD.

About TetraGenetics: TetraGenetics is focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class biologic medicines for autoimmune diseases, oncology and pain. The company has the leading drug discovery platform (TetraExpress™) for identifying antibodies targeting ion channels and other transmembrane proteins. TetraGenetics is actively building a proprietary drug pipeline and working collaboratively with major biotech companies for antibody drug discovery. For more information, please visit: www.tetragenetics.com.