Elevar Therapeutics, Inc. (“Elevar”), a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company built on the promise of elevating treatment experiences and outcomes for patients who have limited or inadequate therapeutic options, today announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Saeho Chong to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately. The Company also appointed Dr. Seong H. Jang to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), which became effective on March 1, 2022.

“On behalf of the board, we believe that Drs. Chong and Jang are the right leaders for Elevar at this stage in the Company’s evolution. Their collective depth and breadth of industry, academic and regulatory experience, as well as their leadership skills, will help drive our pipeline toward potential product approvals and launches in the U.S., ultimately fulfilling high unmet needs for cancer patients who are awaiting new therapeutic options,” said Yang Gon Jin, chairman of the board, Elevar Therapeutics.

Dr. Saeho Chong brings more than 25 years of senior management experience, including more than a decade of strategic development in the pharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as Vice President, Early Development at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where he had a significant track record of success in research and development. Previously, he served in roles of increasing responsibility and leadership at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Millennium (Takeda Oncology). He also held a prior position in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Clinical Pharmacology and was a professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University.

Dr. Chong received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics at the esteemed School of Pharmacy of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received post-graduate training under the guidance of Dr. HL Fung at SUNY Buffalo and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at SUNY Buffalo. He has held editorial board positions of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Journal, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Archives of Pharmacal Research, and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation, and has authored more than 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Seong H. Jang brings a deep expertise in clinical pharmacology, having held considerable positions of increasing responsibility at FDA for nearly 20 years. His experience includes leadership roles in the Division of Infectious Disease Pharmacology, Office of Clinical Pharmacology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. He and his team contributed to the approval of an impressive portfolio of new drug products in multiple therapeutic areas, including transplant, special pathogens and anti-infectives. He is widely recognized both internally and externally for his expertise and collaboration. Further, his contributions include serving as a cross disciplinary team leader in several new drug application reviews and as an acting deputy division director for the Office of Study Integrity and Surveillance.

Dr. Jang earned his Ph.D., in biopharmaceutics from the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State University with focus in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and subsequently as a research fellow. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and has often presented at scientific organizations such as the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, National Health Institutes, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Elevar is a wholly owned subsidiary of HLB Co., Ltd., a publicly traded company on Korea’s KOSDAQ exchange.