Cellectar Appoints Dr. John Friend as Chief Medical Officer

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., July 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it has appointed Dr. John Friend as chief medical officer, effective immediately.

“We are pleased to welcome John back to Cellectar to oversee CLR 131’s late-stage oncology clinical development plans and FDA engagement for our adult and pediatric programs,” said Jim Caruso, president and CEO of Cellectar Biosciences. “John’s understanding and prior involvement with CLR 131 combined with his extensive experience in oncology drug development will prove invaluable to our overall development program and near-term pivotal study registration strategies.”

Dr. Friend returns to Cellectar bringing more than 17 years of global drug development and medical affairs expertise in hematology/oncology as well as a variety of other therapeutic indications. Most recently, he was chief medical officer of DRGT and prior to his earlier tenure at Cellectar, Dr. Friend served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Helsinn Therapeutics (U.S.), Inc. leading its research and development, clinical, medical affairs and regulatory affairs divisions. Prior to his time at Helsinn, Dr. Friend held executive responsibility for clinical research, medical affairs, pharmacovigilance and risk management at various pharmaceutical companies including Akros Pharma, Actavis, Alpharma, Hospira and Abbott.

Dr. Friend noted, “I am excited to rejoin the Cellectar team and to lead the clinical development, global regulatory submission and post-approval support of CLR 131. The recent results from the company’s phase 2a B-cell study demonstrating 40% plus response rates for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma and non-hodgkin’s lymphomas as well as a 100% response rate to date in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia validates my early belief in CLR 131 and the PDC technology platform. I look forward to working to bring CLR 131 to market for the many cancer patients that may benefit from its treatment.”

Dr. Friend completed his post-graduate residency program in family medicine and subsequently served as Clinical Director and faculty attending physician at Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency Program in North Carolina. He earned his medical degree from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers, RWJMS) and received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Southern Methodist University,