BOSTON, Nov. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP) today announced the appointment of Raffaele Baffa, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Baffa joins the Company from Medisix, an immune engineering company developing novel cellular therapies to address T cell malignancies, where he held the role of Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer. Previously, Dr. Baffa was Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head of Oncology, Global Clinical Development for Shire, and, subsequent to the acquisition of the oncology division by Servier, Dr. Baffa served as Chief Medical Officer of Servier Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Baffa has also held industry leadership positions as Executive Director, Early Oncology Development and Clinical Research at Pfizer and at Sanofi, where he was Head of Translational Sciences - External Science & Innovation, Global Biotherapeutics.

“We’re pleased to welcome Raffaele to the Company and to the leadership team,” said Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer. “He brings a deep understanding of engineered T cells, cancer biology, pharmacogenomics and cancer pathology, and has led early development teams in IND filings for new clinical trials for twelve compounds in the area of oncology and led late development teams in three regulatory approval submissions. We look forward to his leadership in shaping and directing our internal and external programs and partnerships to maximize the value of our distinctive and innovative science.”

Dr. Baffa added, “Ziopharm has a compelling opportunity to build on ground-breaking science across a range of clinical applications to help treat cancer patients. I am delighted to join Laurence and the team, and I look forward to contributing to the next phase of clinical development and ultimately to commercialization.”

Dr. Baffa earned an M.D. from University of Padova, School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. in biology and molecular pathology from University of Parma, both in Italy. As an associate professor at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he served as Director of Urology Research and as Co-Director of the Genito-Urinary Cancer Program. Dr. Baffa has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, invited articles and book chapters.

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.