GENOCEA BIOSCIENCES, INC. (NASDAQ:GNCA) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain OfficersItem 5.02Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On October 1, 2018,Genocea Biosciences,Inc. (the “Company”)announced the appointment of Thomas Davis, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Davis joins Genocea with over20 years of academic and industry experience in immuno-oncology and cancer drug development. Most recently, he served as Chief Medical Officer of Gadeta B.V., a Dutch cell therapy company pursuing novel cancer targets, where he steered a novel cell therapy technology into first-in human clinical studies. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Celldex from 2006 to 2017, where he led all aspects of clinical and regulatory development including strategy, tactics, and execution. While at Celldex, Tom actively built and oversaw Clinical Science, Medical Affairs, Safety, Clinical Operations, Statistics, Regulatory Affairs, and Project Management, managed collaborations with large global pharmaceutical partners, and participated in investor relations activities. He also served as Chief Medical Officer at GenVec and as Senior Director of Clinical Science at Medarex.
Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Davis supervised clinical efforts at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and worked on the development of rituximab and idiotype vaccines at Stanford University. Dr. Davis received his B.A. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins, his M.S. in Physiology and his M.D. from Georgetown University, and completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford University.
In connection with Dr. Davis's appointment, the Company entered into a letter agreement (the “Agreement”) with Dr. Davis governing the terms of Dr. Davis’s employment for an indefinite term. This Agreement became effective on October 1, 2018, the first day of Dr. Davis’s employment with the Company. Under the Agreement, Dr. Davis will receive an initial annual base salary of $425,000 and is eligible for an annual bonus of up to 40% of his base salary. In addition, to the terms of the Agreement and the Company’s 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, on October 1, 2018, the Company granted Dr. Davis an award of stock options to purchase 500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The options have a term of ten years with an exercise price equal to $0.79 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock as reported by the Nasdaq Global Market on October 1, 2018. The options are scheduled to vest as to 25% of the shares on the first anniversary of the date that Dr. Davis becomes Chief Medical Officer and, thereafter, in ratable monthly installments for 36 months. Vesting of the award is subject to Dr. Davis's continued service with the Company through the relevant date.
Upon execution and effectiveness of a release of claims, Dr. Davis will be entitled to severance payments if the Company terminates his employment without cause or Dr. Davis terminates his employment for good reason, each as defined in the Agreement.
A press release announcing Dr. Davis's employment is filed as Exhibit99.1 hereto.
Item 9.01Financial Statements and Exhibits.
GENOCEA BIOSCIENCES, INC. ExhibitEX-99.1 2 exhibit99110118.htm EXHIBIT 99.1 exhibit99110118 P R E S S R E L E A S E S G E N O C E A S T R E N G T H E N S L E A D E R S H I P T E A M : T H O M A S D A V I S ,…To view the full exhibit click here
About GENOCEA BIOSCIENCES, INC. (NASDAQ:GNCA)
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company discovers and develops vaccines and immunotherapies. It uses its discovery platform, AnTigen Lead Acquisition System (ATLAS), to design vaccines and immunotherapies that act, in part, through T cell (or cellular) immune responses. The Company operates through business of developing and commercializing vaccines segment. It has one product candidate in Phase II clinical development: GEN-003, which is a therapeutic vaccine or immunotherapy for the treatment of genital herpes infections. It has pre-clinical development programs, which include GEN-001, which is indicated for the treatment of chlamydia prophylaxis, and GEN-002, which indicated for the treatment of genital herpes prophylaxis both of which are in pre-clinical stage of development. The Company’s pipeline also includes GEN-005, which is under malaria prophylaxis, Epstein-Barr virus and immuno-oncology programs in research stage of development.
