SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RAPT Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company developing oral small molecules for oncology and inflammatory diseases, today announced that Emma Guttman-Yassky, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, has joined the company’s scientific advisory board.

“We are pleased to welcome another thought leader to our scientific advisory board (SAB),” said Dirk Brockstedt, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of RAPT Therapeutics. “Dr. Guttman’s discoveries in the pathology of inflammatory skin diseases, and in particular atopic dermatitis, have helped to define modern-day therapeutic approaches to counter these diseases. Dr. Guttman’s expertise in immunology and dermatology will be helpful as we advance our drug candidates to modulate immune responses underlying diseases, and specifically our CCR4 antagonist RPT193 for allergic inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis.”

Emma Guttman-Yassky, M.D., Ph.D., is the Sol and Clara Kest Professor and vice chair for research at the Department of Dermatology, director of the Center for Excellence in Eczema, and director of the Laboratory of Inflammatory Skin Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. Dr. Guttman’s major clinical and research area of expertise is inflammatory skin diseases with a focus on atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema and alopecia areata, as well as other inflammatory skin diseases. She made discoveries on the immunologic basis of AD/eczema in humans and developed molecular maps of AD, defining skin differentiation and immune circuits characterizing this disease. She has established the reversibility of the AD phenotype and defined a series of biomarkers being used in the testing of novel pathway-specific drugs for AD. Dr. Guttman was involved in the development of Dupixent (dupilumab) for the treatment of uncontrolled moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Additionally, Dr. Guttman co-founded the International Eczema Council/IEC, for which she serves as president. This organization now comprises of the vast majority of top experts in atopic dermatitis/eczema worldwide. She is also on the scientific advisory board of the National Eczema Association. Dr. Guttman was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation/ASCI, the American Dermatological Society/ADA, and received the Young Investigator Award (2011) from the American Academy of Dermatology, as well as other awards. She has also been elected to serve on the board of the American Skin Association. She earned her M.D. degree from Sackler School of Medicine at the Tel-Aviv University, and a Ph.D. degree from the Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel. Dr. Guttman is also board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology following a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University and a second dermatology residency training at the Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York.

Emma Guttman-Yassky, M.D., Ph.D., professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, commented, “RAPT’s novel target identification approach has yielded therapeutic candidates with the potential, if confirmed in clinical trials, to better the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. I am excited to be collaborating with the company to help advance these novel agents as a member of their SAB.”

About RAPT Therapeutics, Inc.

RAPT Therapeutics (formerly FLX Bio) 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 responses underlying these diseases. In its first four years since inception, RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4. The company’s lead oncology drug candidate, FLX475, reached the clinic in just two and a half years and the company expects its lead inflammation drug candidate, RPT193, to enter the clinic in the second half of 2019. The company is also pursuing a range of targets, including general control nonderepressible 2 and hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1, that are in the discovery stage of development.

Contacts

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

Investor Contact: 
Sylvia Wheeler 
swheeler@wheelhouselsa.com