Spotlight Therapeutics Appoints Nallakkan Arvindan, Ph.D., MBA, as EVP and Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Arvindan Brings Two Decades of Broad Industry Expertise in Technology Development and Operations

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spotlight Therapeutics, Inc. (“Spotlight”), a biotechnology company applying new insights to develop cell-targeted in vivo CRISPR gene editing biologics, today announced the appointment of Nallakkan Arvindan, Ph.D., MBA as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Arvindan brings two decades of industry experience, most recently as Senior Vice President, Strategic Technology Operations and member of the executive team at Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. until its acquisition by Amgen.

"We are delighted to welcome Arvind to Spotlight’s leadership team. His demonstrated success in driving operational improvements and fostering company evolution will be invaluable as we continue to advance our TAGE (Targeted Active Gene Editors) platform and pipeline," said Mary Haak-Frendscho, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Spotlight. "Arvind has deep experience in biologics and will play a key role in helping Spotlight bring a new class of CRISPR ribonucleoprotein therapeutics to patients.”

During Dr. Arvindan’s Five Prime tenure, he helped develop their novel, fully automated, biologics discovery and development platform to support a first-in-class clinical stage Immuno-Oncology pipeline. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington, Seattle.

“I am thrilled to join Spotlight to help lead the company in developing a first-in-class, modular biologics platform for a new generation of cell-targeted in vivo CRISPR gene editing therapeutics,” said Dr. Arvindan. “Spotlight’s innovative biologics approach provides an unparalleled opportunity to deliver transformative medicines.”

“Spotlight is at an exciting stage of growth, and Arvind’s broad expertise and industry knowledge makes him an outstanding addition helping to accelerate our momentum towards the clinic,” said Craig Gordon, M.D., Spotlight board member, Founder, CEO, and CIO of GordonMD™ Global Investments.

About Spotlight Therapeutics

Established in 2018, Spotlight Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of cell-targeted in vivo CRISPR gene editing therapies. Spotlight's proprietary technology platform TAGE (Targeted Active Gene Editors) is a new class of biologics, CRISPR effectors engineered for direct delivery in vivo, to achieve cell-selective therapeutic genome editing. Spotlight's pipeline is advancing its modular programmable CRISPR effectors towards clinical studies in immuno-oncology, ophthalmic diseases and hemoglobinopathies. The company is headquartered in Hayward, California. For more information, please visit www.spotlighttx.com.