Ambrx Appoints Olivia Ware and Katrin Rupalla to its Board of Directors

April 14, 2021 at 08:00 AM EDT

Ambrx, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using an expanded genetic code technology platform to create Engineered Precision Biologics, today announced the appointments of Olivia C. Ware and Katrin Rupalla, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to have both Olivia and Katrin join the Ambrx team at a such a pivotal time in the company’s history,” said Feng Tian, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Ambrx. “Olivia brings invaluable experience across all stages of the product development cycle, from pharmaceutical drug development and commercialization to healthcare management. Katrin has extensive experience in global regulatory strategy and drug candidate development. I look forward to benefiting from Olivia and Katrin’s counsel in the months and years to come, as we advance our clinical development pipeline, including our lead asset ARX788.”

“I am delighted to be appointed to Ambrx’s Board and joining what I believe to be a very talented and highly capable team,” said Ms. Ware. “I hope to leverage my clinical and commercial experience as we collectively seek to advance an innovative pipeline of drugs from Ambrx’s technology platform.”

Ms. Ware joins Ambrx with more than 20 years of pharmaceutical drug development, commercialization and healthcare management experience, with a history of successful commercial drug launches including Rituxan^®, Herceptin^®, Avastin^®and Lucentis^®. In addition to drug development, Ms. Ware also has experience in developing managed care, pricing and contract strategy, developing marketing programs for field-based sales teams, and establishing, growing and optimizing organizations for long-term success. Previously, Ms. Ware was the Senior Vice President, BTK Franchise Head at Principia Biopharma Inc., where she was responsible for developing portfolio strategy for the company’s three BTKi molecules. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President, U.S. Market and Franchise Development at Proteus Digital Health, Inc., was Chief Commercial Officer at CytRx, Inc., and held various leadership roles at Genentech, Inc.

Ms. Ware graduated from Davidson College and received her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is now President of Davidson College Board of Visitors and member of the Davidson Board of Trustees.

“I’m excited to be joining Ambrx, especially given the recent clinical progress the company has made in both China and the United States,” said Dr. Rupalla. “I look forward to assisting the company’s regulatory affairs and drug development efforts in both countries, so that we can together progress Ambrx’s innovative Engineered Precision Biologics to create more precise therapeutic treatments to address significant unmet needs.”

Dr. Rupalla has more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry at a global scale serving the United States, Europe and China. Currently, Dr. Rupalla serves as Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, R&D Quality and Medical Information at Lundbeck. Prior to joining Lundbeck, she spent several years at Bristol Myers Squibb in various roles in drug development and regulatory affairs including as Head Development BMS in China, Vice President of European Union Regulatory Sciences, and Vice President of Oncology Global Regulatory Sciences. Dr. Rupalla has spent her career as an executive in global regulatory affairs at various other companies including Celgene, Roche, and Merck. Presently, she is a non-executive independent director at 4D Pharma PLC and iQure Pharma Inc.

Dr. Rupalla received a Master of Science in Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in CNS pharmacology from Philipps University of Marburg, Germany. She also has an MBA from Jones International University, CO, USA.

About Ambrx

Ambrx is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using an expanded genetic code technology platform to create Engineered Precision Biologics. These include next generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bispecifics, targeted immuno-oncology therapies, novel cytokines to modulate the immune system, and long-acting therapeutic peptides for metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Ambrx is advancing a robust portfolio of clinical and preclinical programs optimized for efficacy, safety and ease of use, in multiple therapeutic areas, including its lead product candidate ARX788. In addition, the company has clinical collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Astellas, BeiGene, Sino Biopharma, Elanco and NovoCodex, for drug candidates generated using Ambrx technology. For additional information, please visit www.ambrx.com.