Replicate Bioscience Appoints Rachael Lester as Chief Business Officer

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07/10/2023 - 09:00 AM

Biopharma executive with more than 20 years of global corporate, business development, and commercial strategy experience to join Replicate leadership team

SAN DIEGO, July 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Replicate Bioscience, a company pioneering novel self-replicating RNA (srRNA) technology for use in infectious disease, oncology, autoimmune disease, and more, announced today that it has appointed Rachael Lester as its Chief Business Officer. Ms. Lester, who has more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the biopharmaceutical industry, will be responsible for leading corporate strategy, business development, portfolio strategy, and new product planning.

"I am delighted to welcome Rachael to the Replicate leadership team. Rachael has demonstrated an ability to drive growth and value at leading companies in our sector," said Nathaniel Wang, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Replicate. "Rachael is joining our organization at an important time, as we advance our robust pipeline of srRNA therapies into the clinic. Her leadership experience and proven track record in business development, sales and marketing, and finance will be invaluable for Replicate's corporate growth, leveraging our srRNA platform to unlock novel therapeutic applications and bring new treatment options to patients worldwide."

Ms. Lester joins Replicate from Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HARP), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, where she most recently served as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Strategy. In this role, she oversaw the company's business development strategy and transactions, including global strategic partnerships with AbbVie and Roche, and supported multiple financings culminating in approximately $400M in dilutive and non-dilutive funding. Prior to her time at Harpoon, Ms. Lester served as Vice President of Product & Marketing for Bruin Biometrics where she drove commercialization into Europe, new product planning, and ongoing R&D collaborations and commercial distribution partnerships. Ms. Lester served as Global Head of Strategic Asset Management at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for portfolio management, strategic finance, sell-side corporate development and innovation initiatives through the approvals of Kyprolis and Stivarga, and the $10.4B acquisition of Onyx by Amgen. At Deloitte Consulting, she held a leading role in the Life Sciences Strategy & Operations practice, as a thought leader and advisor to biotech clients on growth strategy, new product planning, and commercialization across a variety of transaction types (licensing, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spinouts). Ms. Lester received a B.A. in neuroscience from University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

"I've been following Replicate's impressive progress to date and am enthusiastic to be joining an organization with such a distinct approach to overcoming traditional challenges in the development of RNA therapeutics," said Ms. Lester. "I look forward to contributing my expertise to help advance Replicate's patient-focused vision of enabling broadly accessible srRNA therapeutics."

About Replicate Bioscience
Replicate Bioscience is amplifying the power of RNA therapeutics by pioneering novel self-replicating RNA (srRNA) technology. Replicate's off-the-shelf srRNAs contain two components: virally derived genetic code to drive controlled and self-limiting amplification, and the RNA encoding therapeutic proteins. The company's library of viral vectors, selected for driving robust and sustained protein expression and orders-of-magnitude improved performance over linear mRNA, allow for the development of treatments in applications including oncology, infectious disease, and autoimmunity. Differentiated by a team of srRNA experts, a customizable library of synthetic srRNA vectors, and end-to-end development capabilities, Replicate is uniquely positioned to finally expand the reach of RNA treatments toward widespread use in infectious disease, immuno-oncology, autoimmune disease, and more. Visit us at replicatebioscience.com.