Autolus Therapeutics Announces Changes to its Board of Directors

LONDON, April 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, today announces the appointment of Mike Bonney as Chairman of the Board, and Ravi Rao M.D., as Non-Executive Director. John H. Johnson advised the Board of his decision to step down from his role as Chairman of the Board and Non-Executive Director. These changes are effective as of today, April 1, 2024.

“On behalf of the Board and Management team, we would like to thank John for his leadership during a transformational period for the Company, which included conducting the pivotal Phase 2 FELIX study and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) acceptance of the filing of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for obe-cel in the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) adult B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). We wish John much success with his new projects,” said Dr. Christian Itin, Chief Executive Officer of Autolus.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Mike Bonney as our new Chairman. Mike brings a wealth of commercial and corporate governance experience to the Board and Ravi Rao, M.D., adds clinical development and medical affairs experience in autoimmune and inflammatory disease. With these additional changes we believe the Board is well positioned for the next phase of the Company’s development to a fully integrated commercial company and its expanded interest in autoimmune disease.”

Mike Bonney has over 30 years of biotech and pharmaceutical expertise. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Cubist Pharmaceuticals from 2003 until 2014. Under his leadership, Cubist grew from a small micro-cap to the world’s leading antibiotic company and was acquired by Merck early in 2015 for $9.5 billion. Prior to Cubist, Mr. Bonney was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Biogen where he built the company’s commercial infrastructure for the launch of its first product. Before joining Biogen, he spent 11 years at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in a range of commercial, operating, and strategic roles, ending his career there as National Business Director. He is currently a director of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and chair of Dunad Therapeutics and Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Mr. Bonney has served as a director with many companies previously including Celgene, Kaleido Biosciences, Magenta Therapeutics, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sarepta Therapeutics and Syros Pharmaceuticals. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Bates College.