Blaze Bioscience is a Seattle-based, privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing products that assist surgeons in their quest to improve the lives of cancer patients. The company was founded in 2010 to develop and commercialize the Tumor Paint technology. Tumor Paint provides real-time, highresolution intraoperative visualization of cancer cells, enabling better detection and more complete and precise surgical resection of cancer. The first Tumor Paint product candidate, which is a combination of a targeting
peptide and a fluorescent beacon, is under development for multiple solid tumors.
Ms. Franklin is an experienced corporate executive with over 20 years of broad biotechnology expertise, including positions in research, product development, business development, strategic planning and executive management.
Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, Ms. Franklin was Senior Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management at ZymoGenetics. Her areas of responsibility included business development, alliance management, strategic planning, portfolio management and pipeline marketing. She was the architect of the $1.1B deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for Interferon lambda, which at the time of execution was the largest single-molecule Phase 1 deal ever and led to ZymoGenetics subsequent acquisition by BMS. Ms. Franklin has designed and negotiated deals across the product development spectrum from research through commercialization. Prior to ZymoGenetics, Ms. Franklin held positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen and Targeted Genetics.
Ms.
Dr. Claudia Jochheim is a Biochemist with more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, she was an independent consultant.
She formerly held strategic leadership positions as Senior Director/Director of Analytical Biochemistry and Formulations at Seattle Genetics, where she built and led groups of up to 30 scientists. At Seattle Genetics, Dr. Jochheim played a key role in moving the antibody-drug-conjugate Adcetris from development to the market.
Prior to Seattle Genetics, she was Director of Analytical Biochemistry at Corixa and a Senior Scientist/Scientist at Immunex and Amgen, where she was project leader for several development projects, including Enbrel and Vectibix. Her experience includes all aspects of technology transfer to contract manufacturing organizations and preparation of product-related CMC regulatory filings with FDA.
Dr.
Dr. Novak is a seasoned biotechnology professional, with 20 years of research and development experience. Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, Dr. Novak served in a variety of roles at ZymoGenetics, including strategic planning, development project management and scientific leadership. She was a core member of a team implementing fundamental changes in corporate strategic planning. As Director of Project Management, Dr. Novak successfully managed co-development and co-research projects, including directing the transfer of a preclinical-stage program to a strategic partner while maintaining momentum enabling an on-schedule IND filing and study initiation. During her 11 years in research, Dr. Novak led a highly productive team focused on novel drug discovery. To date, eight new product candidates have resulted from this work and are currently in clinical and preclinical development.
Ms. Lobanova is a senior finance professional and certified public accountant, with 14 years of financial and strategic planning experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, Ms. Lobanova served as Senior Director of Finance at ZymoGenetics. During her tenure there, she built and managed a highly effective finance team and was a core member of the strategic planning group, providing financial leadership for major corporate development and strategic initiatives. Prior to ZymoGenetics, Ms. Lobanova spent six years at ICOS Corporation in various finance roles, where she supported the research and development organization, including development of Cialis. Her earlier career was with commercial entities of the Atomic Energy Agency of Russian Federation, where she held several technical and business positions.
Ms. Lobanova earned an MBA from the University of Washingtons Foster School of Business and a BS in Economics from the University of Washington.
Mr. Towne is a seasoned business executive with extensive leadership and board experience.
Mr. Towne is currently Chief Executive Officer of Presage Biosciences.
Recently he served on the Board of Cutter & Buck, a public company which was acquired by New Wave Group AB.
He was CEO and Board Chairman for Greenfield Development Corporation.
He has previously served as Chairman and CEO of Osteo Sciences, which was acquired by Metra Biosystems;
President and CEO of Photon Kinetics, which was acquired by IFR Systems.
President and COO of Metheus.
He was the first outside President and a Director of Microsoft Corporation after having worked at Tektronix for 13 years leaving as Vice President and General Manager of the Instruments Division.
He has served as a board member, including holding the position of audit committee chairperson, for a number of corporations and start-up companies. Mr. Towne received his BA and MBA from Stanford University.
Dr. Olson is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Childrens Hospital, a Full Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and a Professor at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. His research focuses on development of effective therapeutics and diagnostics for cancer patients. The Tumor Paint technology originated in Dr. Olson’s lab at FHCRC. His team has conducted research that led to five national clinical trials for children with brain tumors. He is also Founder and Chairman of Presage Biosciences, a company which is based on a technology platform developed in his lab for assessing tumor response to drugs. Dr. Olson trained at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology.