Shane Ward has joined Bellicum Pharmaceuticals as the company’s general counsel and corporate secretary. He reports to CEO Rick Fair, and leads the legal, compliance and corporate governance functions.
Houston-based Bellicum is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing cellular immunotherapies for cancers and certain blood disorders.
Ward was most recently general counsel for Versartis, a development-stage biotechnology company. In that role, he built the company’s legal, compliance and quality assurance teams in preparation for potential commercialization of a novel fusion protein therapeutic, according to Bellicum.
Previously, he was vice president and associate general counsel for Dynavax Technologies Corporation, a biotech company developing immunotherapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Human Genome Sciences and Gilead Sciences.
‘We are pleased to have Shane join Bellicum’s executive team,’ Fair says in a statement. ‘His expertise in managing public company governance and in navigating the legal and regulatory requirements for development and commercialization of novel biotechnology products will be vital.’
Ward says in a statement: ‘I believe that Bellicum’s novel platform, designed to address efficacy and safety limitations of current generation cellular immunotherapies, is very exciting and can enable treatment for a broad range of cancers.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
