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Catalyst Biosciences Announces Key Leadership Changes in its Ongoing Transition to an Integrated Protease Medicines CompanyGrant Blouse, Ph.D., M.Sc. appointed chief scientific officer Tom Knudsen, DVM, Ph.D. promoted to senior vice president, corporate development Howard Levy, M.B.B.Ch, Ph.D., M.M.M. transitions to senior clinical advisor SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBIO) today announced it has promoted Grant Blouse, Ph.D., to chief scientific officer and Tom Knudsen, DVM, Ph.D., to senior vice president, corporate development. Howard Levy, M.B.B.Ch, Ph.D., M.M.M., chief medical officer, announced his plan to retire and transition to a senior clinical advisor role to Catalyst. “First and foremost, on behalf of all our employees and the Board of Directors at Catalyst Biosciences, I want to thank Howard for his many years of dedicated service, and especially for his key insights into initiating and advancing our SQ hemophilia programs and congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement. Due to his vision, SQ MarzAA is currently in a Phase 3 registrational study and SQ DalcA has successfully completed a Phase 2 trial. We look forward to Howard’s continuing expert advice as he transitions to the role of senior clinical advisor,” said Nassim Usman, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Catalyst. “I’d like to thank Nassim and the entire Catalyst family for their collaboration and support over my years of service. I look forward to Catalyst continuing to advance MarzAA and DalcA so that patients can have an improved quality of life,” said Dr. Levy. Dr. Usman continued, “I am pleased to announce Grant’s promotion to chief scientific officer. During his tenure at Catalyst, he has been instrumental in building our protease engineering platform and our hemophilia and complement programs.” “Additionally, it is my pleasure to announce Tom’s promotion to senior vice president, corporate development,” Dr. Usman concluded, “Tom’s knowledge and experience in science, finance and corporate strategy will support our corporate development efforts as the company grows its protease medicines business.” Dr. Grant Blouse has served as served as senior vice president, translational research at Catalyst since January 2020 and as vice president, translational research since July 2018. Prior to Catalyst, Dr. Blouse wasprincipal scientist and project manager at Novo Nordisk A/S, haemophilia enzymology, where he led early and late-stage hemophilia projects and drove the strategic evaluation of new therapeutic areas in the rare disease space. Prior to Novo Nordisk, Dr. Blouse was a senior scientist at Catalyst, working on building Catalyst’s hemophilia programs, including the design of MarzAA and DalcA. Dr. Blouse has held research and investigator positions at Aarhus University’s Department of Molecular Biology, Henry Ford Health System’s Division of Biochemical Research and Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Blouse has published widely and is an inventor on many patents in protease biochemistry and hematology. Dr. Blouse earned his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Delaware, his M.Sc. in Biochemistry from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Tom Knudsen has served as vice president, corporate development at Catalyst since January 2021. Prior to that, he was vice president, translational research at Catalyst. Before joining Catalyst, Dr. Knudsen has led strategy consulting at Deloitte and biopharmaceuticals research at Novo Nordisk. During his time at Novo Nordisk, he held various line, portfolio, and project management leadership roles. Dr. Knudsen earned his DVM and Ph.D. degrees in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About Catalyst Biosciences, the Protease Medicines company Forward-Looking Statements Contact: Ana Kapor |