SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic CAR T (AlloCAR T™) products for cancer, today announced that Earl Douglas has been appointed as General Counsel. Mr. Douglas will oversee all aspects of the Company’s legal function and serve as a member of the Leadership Team.

“We are excited to welcome Earl who brings a tenure of experience guiding publicly-traded biotech companies on complex legal issues, corporate strategy and transactions,” said David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Allogene. “I also want to thank Lillian Smith, our interim General Counsel, for her exceptional leadership and invaluable contributions as we conducted this search. Her ongoing partnership with Earl will ensure that our skilled legal group continues to thrive as we move toward our goal of a BLA submission for ALLO-501A, our lead AlloCAR T™ product candidate.”  

Douglas has had a distinguished legal and compliance career serving as counsel for publicly-traded biotech and medical device companies as well as start-ups for more than 35 years. He has advised management and boards on a wide range of legal and strategic matters, including corporate governance, SEC filings, commercial transactions, intellectual property strategy, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, litigation, and compliance programs.

“I was drawn to Allogene for its deep commitment to scientific innovation, experience and leadership,” said Douglas. “Following several industry-first milestones achieved this year, it became evident to me that this is a company where my skills could add tremendous value as it progresses on its path to democratize CAR T access.”

Prior to Allogene, Douglas served as General Counsel for Applied Molecular Transport (AMT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining AMT, Douglas was Vice President and General Counsel of Kiverdi, and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at BioMimetic Therapeutics (acquired by Wright Medical Group), Spinal Dynamics (acquired by Medtronic), and OPX Biotechnologies (acquired by Cargill). He also previously served as Counsel with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and earlier in his career practiced as an associate with Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Earl holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Allogene Therapeutics
Allogene Therapeutics, with headquarters in South San Francisco, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR T™) products for cancer. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of “off-the-shelf” CAR T cell candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. For more information, please visit www.allogene.com and follow @AllogeneTx on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The press release may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: Allogene’s goal of a BLA submission for ALLO-501A; Allogene’s ability to democratize CAR T access; and Allogene’s ability to deliver readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients. Various factors may cause material differences between Allogene’s expectations and actual results, including risks and uncertainties related to: our product candidates are based on novel technologies, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of product candidate development and obtaining regulatory approval; Phase 1 data from our clinical trials is limited and may change as more patient data become available or may not be validated in any future or advanced clinical trial; our ability to maintain intellectual property rights necessary for the continued development of our product candidates, including pursuant to our license agreements; our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their clinical development, prevent their regulatory approval or limit their commercial potential; the extent to which COVID-19 adversely impacts our business, including our clinical trials; the extent to which the FDA disagrees with our clinical or regulatory plans, which could cause future delays to our clinical trials or require additional clinical trials; we may encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials; we may not be able to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in our clinical trials, which could prevent or delay regulatory approval and commercialization; challenges with manufacturing or optimizing manufacturing of our product candidates; and our ability to obtain additional financing to develop our products and implement our operating plans. These and other risks are discussed in greater detail in Allogene’s filings with the SEC, including without limitation under the “Risk Factor” Heading in its Form 10-Q filed for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Allogene assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

AlloCAR T™ is a trademark of Allogene Therapeutics, Inc.

Allogene Media/Investor Contact:
Christine Cassiano
Chief Communications Officer
Christine.Cassiano@allogene.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ca988e33-23f1-4e9e-8900-34e88611f37b