BOSTON, Sept. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP), today announced the appointment of J. Kevin Buchi to the Company’s Board of Directors and as Chair of the Board’s Audit Committee. Additionally, Ziopharm announced that, in response to the results from the Company’s recent annual meeting of stockholders, Doug Pagán has resigned from the Board.

Mr. Buchi has deep life sciences industry experience, notably 15 years with Cephalon, including serving as its Chief Executive Officer during Cephalon’s acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals in 2011 for $6.8 billion. Subsequently, Mr. Buchi served as Chief Executive Officer of TertraLogic Pharmaceuticals, and more recently as Chief Executive Officer of Biospecifics Technologies, prior to his retirement.

“We are delighted to welcome Kevin to our Board of Directors,” said Scott Tarriff, Chairman of the Ziopharm Board of Directors. “Kevin is an accomplished executive and director, whose extensive industry experience and business and financial acumen will complement the Board. We also wish to thank Doug for his many contributions since joining the Ziopharm Board in 2018, a critical time in the Company’s history, while we exited a corporate partnership and established the foundation for our core programs today. Over the past year, we have added four strong directors to our Board, including James Huang in July and Dr. Chris Bowden and Heidi Hagen last year. Looking ahead, we expect our Board will continue to evolve to reflect the needs of our business as we evolve into a commercial-stage company.”

Mr. Buchi added, “This is an exciting time for Ziopharm, as the Company has established a broad portfolio of innovative clinical programs to treat solid tumors and a talented team to drive company-sponsored trials in all three core programs. I am delighted to begin collaborating with Laurence and his team, as well as the other members of Ziopharm’s Board of Directors.”

Following the acquisition of Cephalon by Teva in 2011, Mr. Buchi served as corporate vice president of global branded products at Teva. Subsequently, he was CEO TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals and Biospecifics Technologies. In addition, Mr. Buchi currently serves as chairman of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, and as a director of Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Benitec Biopharma Ltd. Mr. Buchi earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Cornell University and a Master’s in Management, Accounting and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

The Company’s Board consists of eight directors, including seven non-executive directors. The Board will continue to actively review the Board membership to ensure the skills and experience of directors support the progress and future prospects of the business.

About Ziopharm Oncology, Inc.
Ziopharm is developing non-viral and cytokine-driven cell and gene therapies that weaponize the body’s immune system to treat the millions of people globally diagnosed with a solid tumor each year. With its multiplatform approach, Ziopharm is at the forefront of immuno-oncology with a goal to treat any type of solid tumor. Ziopharm’s pipeline is built for commercially scalable, cost effective T-cell receptor T-cell therapies based on its non-viral Sleeping Beauty gene transfer platform, a precisely controlled IL-12 gene therapy, and rapidly manufactured Sleeping Beauty-enabled CD19-specific CAR-T program. The Company has clinical and strategic collaborations with the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. For more information, please visit www.ziopharm.com.