7 September 2021 - - US-based biotechnology company Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) has appointed Robert Ilaria, Jr., M.D. as Chief Medical Officer, the company said.

In addition, Brian Schwartz, M.D., will be transitioning from his role as Consulting Chief Physician to the Infinity board of directors.

Dr. Ilaria joins Infinity from Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) where he was most recently the CTLA-4 Development Program Leader.

He was previously Executive Medical director, Global Clinical Research and Development at Celgene and Program Lead Physician for the PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab partnership with BeiGene.

Dr. Ilaria progressed through increasingly senior leadership roles in the global clinical development of over 20 drug candidates during 12 years at Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), resulting in Fast Track and Breakthrough Designations and accelerated approvals, and provided medical support for global regulatory submissions as well as launch and post-launch activities.

Dr. Ilaria received his MD at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas followed by internship/residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a research post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and a hematology and medical oncology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Schwartz has over 25 years of experience as a drug development expert in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and has served as Infinity's consulting Chief Physician since early 2020.

He was previously at ArQule for 10 years where he served as CMO prior to the acquisition by Merck and Co. of ArQule in late 2019.

In senior leadership roles at ArQule, Ziopharm Oncology, Inc., Bayer AG, and LeoLabs, Inc., Dr. Schwartz has accumulated a number of successful new drug applications, numerous investigational new drug applications, preclinical and clinical drug development programs.

During his time in biotech, Dr. Schwartz acquired knowledge of investors relations, partnering and capital raising.

Currently, in addition to the Infinity board of directors, Dr. Schwartz is a board member of Mereo Biopharma, Enlivex and Cyclacel pharmaceuticals and an advisor in different capacities to numerous biotech companies.

Dr. Schwartz qualified as a medical doctor in South Africa followed by additional fellowship training in Canada.

company Reports Inducement Grant to Chief Medical officer under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c) (4)
In accordance with Dr. Ilaria's employment offer letter for the position of Chief Medical Officer, the company further announces the grant of an inducement stock option award to Dr. Ilaria.

This grant was approved by the company's Compensation Committee of the board of director's and was made as a material inducement to Dr. Ilaria's acceptance of employment with the company in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c) (4) as a component of his employment compensation.

The inducement stock option award consists of an option to purchase a total of 300,000 shares of the company's common stock with an exercise price of USD 3.59, equal to the closing price of the company's common stock on September 1, 2021, the date of grant.

The stock option has a 10-year term and vests over four years with 12/48 of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 1/48 of the original number of shares vesting monthly thereafter, subject to Dr. Ilaria's continued service with the company through the vesting dates.

The inducement stock option award is subject to the terms and conditions of the inducement stock option award agreement covering the grant of the inducement stock options.

Infinity is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing novel medicines for people with cancer. Infinity is advancing eganelisib, a first-in-class, oral immuno-oncology development candidate that selectively inhibits PI3K-gamma, in multiple clinical studies.