Theraclone Sciences Announces Appointment of Clifford Stocks as CEO

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Theraclone Sciences, Inc., a therapeutic antibody discovery and development company, announced today the appointment of Clifford J. Stocks as Chief Executive Officer.

“Cliff is known in the biotech industry as a skilled collaboration architect and a strong deal maker, and we have every confidence that he will help us achieve our objectives.”

“I am delighted and honored to join such a strong team of scientists and professionals who have developed a unique technology platform to advance human-antibody product candidates in important disease areas including infectious disease and oncology,” said Mr. Stocks, the newly appointed CEO. “Theraclone is positioned for success with superb product opportunities, a highly talented team, a savvy board, strong venture investor backing, sophisticated ongoing partnerships and multiple opportunities for future partnerships.”

“Cliff is known in the biotech industry as a skilled collaboration architect and a strong deal maker, and we have every confidence that he will help us achieve our objectives.” said Steven Gillis, Ph.D., Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners and Executive Chairman of Theraclone. “We look forward to Cliff leading Theraclone to the next level of value as a company with promising products in the clinic and a robust discovery engine behind them.”

Most recently Mr. Stocks served as Chief Business Officer of Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led the partnering activities and M&A teamwork that resulted in the acquisition of Calistoga by Gilead for $600 million in Q2 2011. Mr. Stocks brings more than two decades of experience in the biotech industry, including 15 years at ICOS Corporation where he served as an Executive Officer and Vice President of Business Development. While at ICOS, he led acquisitions and joint venture activities, as well as alliance formation, strategy, licensing and deal making. He played an instrumental role on the leadership team that developed and launched Cialis®, and was a key architect of the Lilly ICOS joint venture partnership leading to the $2.3 billion acquisition of ICOS in 2007.

Mr. Stocks's early career includes a turn as a management consultant in the Health Services practice of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, as well as academic research in the department of immunology at the University of Utah and the department of molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago, Booth Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Utah.

About Theraclone Sciences

Theraclone Sciences is a Seattle-based biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of infectious disease and cancer. The Company’s technology harnesses the power of the human immune system to identify rare, naturally evolved antibodies from the blood cells of immunologically relevant human subjects. Human monoclonal antibodies can be rapidly isolated using the I-STAR^TM discovery platform and scaled for industrial production. Such human antibody drug candidates may be uniquely safe and relevant to combating disease across broad patient populations. Theraclone is a privately held company with venture investment from ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Healthcare Ventures, MPM Capital, Amgen Ventures and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. For additional information, please visit www.theraclone-sciences.com