SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RAPT), a clinical-stage, immunology-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases, today announced the addition of preeminent oncology thought leaders, Lisa Butterfield, Ph.D. and Lawrence Fong, M.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board.

“It’s a very exciting time in the field of immuno-oncology, with deeper knowledge of biological functions elucidating new ways to treat disease effectively,” commented Dr. Butterfield. “RAPT’s comprehensive approach to clinical development employing biomarkers to identify patients most likely to respond to therapy offers hope for even the most devastating cancers.”

Dr. Butterfield is the Vice President of Research and Development at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on the development of advanced cellular therapies and cancer vaccines. She investigates immunotherapy for hepatocellular cancer and melanoma, involving peptides, dendritic cells and adenoviruses as well as effector responses to tumor antigens. Previously, she served as Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Immunology and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Hillman Cancer Center Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory. She was a member of the SITC Executive Committee for 12 years, serving as President from 2017-2018. For more than a decade, Dr. Butterfield led the Immunology Reference Lab for ECOG-ACRIN NCI cooperative group. Dr. Butterfield received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCLA and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Cellular Immunology and Cancer Gene Therapy at UCLA. She has published more than 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews and book chapters.

“RAPT has uniquely tapped into the crossroad within immunology that impacts both allergy and cancer mechanisms,” said Dr. Fong. “I look forward to contributing to their research and development progress and advancing their pipeline of oral small molecules that offer promise to patients around the globe.”

Lawrence Fong, M.D., is an Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He focuses on developing immunotherapies for different cancers including prostate, kidney, bladder, melanoma, and GI cancers. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Fong also leads a translational immunotherapy laboratory. He has been involved in both preclinical and clinical studies for many cutting-edge immunotherapies. He directs the Cancer Immunotherapy Program in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Fong obtained his M.D. at Stanford University, completed internal medicine training at the University of Washington. He served on the program committees and editorial boards for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). He is co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCSF and is the site primary investigator for the NCI-sponsored Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN).

“We are delighted to welcome two world-renowned immunotherapy leaders to our Scientific Advisory Board,” said Dirk Brockstedt, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of RAPT Therapeutics. “Lisa brings incredible expertise in the development of cutting-edge cellular therapies as well as insight from serving in a leadership role for two organizations dedicated to developing effective therapies for cancer patients. Larry’s experience conducting a wide range of clinical and preclinical trials across varied cancers will provide integral guidance as we advance FLX475 through clinical development and complete IND-enabling studies for our pipeline programs.”

About RAPT Therapeutics, Inc.
RAPT Therapeutics is a clinical stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases. Utilizing its proprietary discovery and development engine, the Company is developing highly selective small molecules designed to modulate the critical immune drivers underlying these diseases. RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, FLX475 and RPT193, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, respectively. The Company is also pursuing a range of targets, including hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) and general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2), that are in the discovery stage of development.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Each of these statements is based only on current information, assumptions and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about clinical development progress and the timing of results from clinical trials of FLX475 and RPT193. Detailed information regarding risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by statements in this press release may be found in RAPT’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 13, 2020 and subsequent filings made by RAPT with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. RAPT disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

RAPT Media Contact:
Angela Bitting
media@rapt.com
(925) 202-6211

RAPT Investor Contact:
Sylvia Wheeler
swheeler@wheelhouselsa.com