Idera, Inc.

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- bioAffinity Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIAF; BIAFW), a biotechnology company focused on the need for noninvasive, accurate tests for the detection of early-stage cancer, today announced that Michael Dougherty has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer, effective today. Mr. Dougherty is an experienced C-level executive with more than 20 years in financial management and business strategy. Mr. Dougherty will report directly to bioAffinity Technologies President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Zannes. Former CFO Michael Edwards will be available as a consultant to ensure a smooth transition. “We are delighted to welcome Mike to our executive leadership team. He brings a tremendous skill set developed in senior positions at Amazon and Russell Investments. His expertise in financial management will play an important role in the nationwide commercial rollout of CyPath® Lung,” Ms. Zannes said. “His experience in strategy development and M&A will be crucial as we expand the CyPath® brand into other indications and pursue therapeutics opportunities. I look forward to his input and leadership as we increase visibility for our Company among investors, analysts and the broader financial community.” Most recently, Mr. Dougherty was Chief Financial Officer of Alexa Business Domains, Amazon’s Alexa AI and Voice division, where he was responsible for financial strategy over Alexa’s multi-billion-dollar investments in AI-generated customer experiences. Previously, Mr. Dougherty was Chief Financial and Operating Officer of TINT, a user-generated content platform, and Chief Financial Officer at Filestack, a secure service provider that was acquired by Idera, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Dougherty served as Chief Financial Officer for Amazon Pay, where he supported Amazon’s digital payment wallet globally. Earlier in his career Mr. Dougherty held various finance positions at Russell Investments and Medisystems Corporation. He is a certified public accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. “As a finance executive at both large enterprise business units and private equity-backed growth firms, my focus has always been on operational excellence, legal and regulatory compliance, and stewardship of company resources. I am excited to join bioAffinity Technologies during this pivotal time in the evolution of its business,” Mr. Dougherty said. “CyPath® Lung has significant potential to improve early-stage lung cancer diagnosis and extend lives. I look forward to leading the financial strategy to support its expansion and create value for our shareholders.” About bioAffinity Technologies, Inc. bioAffinity Technologies, Inc. addresses the need for noninvasive diagnosis of early-stage cancer and diseases of the lung and targeted cancer treatment. The Company’s first product, CyPath® Lung, is a noninvasive test that has shown high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of early-stage lung cancer. CyPath® Lung is marketed as a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) by Precision Pathology Services. OncoSelect® Therapeutics, LLC, a subsidiary of bioAffinity Technologies, is advancing its discoveries shown in vitro to kill cancer cells without harm to normal cells. Research and optimization of the Company’s platform technologies are conducted in its laboratories at The University of Texas at San Antonio. For more information, visit and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the anticipated use of proceeds from the Company’s offering of common shares. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “will” and similar expressions, or the negative of these words. Such forward-looking statements are based on facts and conditions as they exist at the time such statements are made and predictions as to future facts and conditions. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement relating to matters discussed in this press release, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

BOSTON, March 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Covant Therapeutics, an innovative covalent drug discovery company incubated by Roivant Sciences (Nasdaq: ROIV), today announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Covant uses its unprecedented high-throughput chemoproteomics platform to discover novel small molecule therapeutics against hard-to-drug immunology and oncology targets. “This is a very exciting time for Covant as we continue to build our compelling pipeline of therapeutic programs,” said Dr. Ivan Cornella, Chief Scientific Officer of Covant. “I am thrilled to welcome our new Scientific Advisory Board members. I believe that each of them is positioned to contribute significantly to Covant’s success in bringing novel covalent therapeutics to patients.” The founding members of Covant’s SAB are: Dr. Alan D’Andrea is the Alvan T. and Viola D. Fuller American Cancer Society Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for DNA Damage and Repair, and Director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a pioneer in and internationally known for his research in molecular signaling pathways that regulate DNA damage response and DNA repair in mammalian cells. These pathways are often disrupted in cancer cells, accounting for the chromosomal instability and increased mutation frequency in human tumors. Dr. D’Andrea has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles. Among his many accolades, he is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.Dr. Bernhard Küster is a Professor of Proteomics and Bioanalytics and Head of the Bavarian Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Center at the Technical University of Munich. His pioneering team characterizes the proteomes of cancer patients, investigates how molecularly targeted cancer drugs exert their desired and undesired actions in cells, and develops analytical and bioinformatic tools to study proteomes. Prior to his current academic position, Dr. Küster was a member of the Senior Management Team at Cellzome A.G. (now part of GSK), where he made major contributions to the large-scale analysis of protein-protein and protein-drug interactions. Dr. Küster has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and received awards from the Human Proteome Organization and the German Mass Spectrometry Society. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina.Dr. Malcolm MacCoss is a highly accomplished chemist who has held senior research positions at Schering-Plough and Merck & Co. He is a Visiting Professor of Chemistry for Medicine at the University of Oxford. Dr. MacCoss is the recipient of two Thomas Edison Awards (2004 and 2007, for his contributions to the discovery of EMEND and JANUVIA, respectively). He was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2008 and was inducted into the American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2009. Dr. MacCoss currently serves or in recent years has served as a Scientific Advisory Board member or consultant to AbbVie, Idera, Gilead, UCB, and Sitryx, among many others. About Covant TherapeuticsCovant Therapeutics is a Boston-based covalent drug discovery company that was incubated by Roivant Sciences (NASDAQ: ROIV). Covant creates novel therapeutics by using covalency to imprint and regulate proteins. To discover these therapeutics, the company applies cutting-edge capabilities and expertise in chemistry, quantitative proteomics, translational sciences, and deep learning. For more information, please visit www.covanttx.com. Contacts InvestorsCovant Investor Relationsir@covanttx.com MediaCovant Public Relationspr@covanttx.com

In an investor update Thursday morning, AbbVie left eight programs out of its pipeline highlights it shared with investors, as compared to what exists on the R&D page of its website, last refreshed in December. A Phase III study of Rinvoq in Takayasu arteritis , a rare group of disorders in which blood vessels become inflamed, was not included. The JAK inhibitor is approved for indications like rheumatoid arthritis and carries with it a black box warning. There’s also the removal of late-stage veliparib in breast and ovarian cancers after multiple failures for the PARP inhibitor were announced years ago . A company spokesperson noted the programs remain ongoing. “The updates listed in the slide from this morning highlight our key programs of interest for the investment community and is not a comprehensive snapshot of our entire pipeline,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. Further down the pipeline, AbbVie was quiet on Phase II assets ABBV-4083 in filarial diseases and its Allergan-snagged AGN-231868 in dry eye. A different Allergan asset continues in dry eye, according to the Chicago-area pharma giant’s pipeline update Thursday. Down in Phase I, AbbVie left out four oncology drug candidates. The company reneged on solid and hematologic tumor assets ABBV-155 and ABBV-621 , an IV-infused drug candidate also known as eftozanermin alfa . Small cell lung cancer asset ABBV-011 no longer shows up on the pipeline, and the same goes for ABBV-368 in solid tumors. AbbVie previously nixed a Phase Ib study of ABBV-368 in combination with Idera’s (Aceragen as of last month) tilsotolimod. In its update, AbbVie reminded investors of its four regulatory submissions: Rinvoq for Crohn’s disease; the Genmab-partnered CD3xCD20 bispecific epcoritamab for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; ABBV-951 for advanced Parkinson’s disease and Qulipta for chronic migraine prevention . Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional context from an AbbVie spokesperson that the programs remain ongoing.