CohBar Expands Board with Biotech Veteran Misha Petkevich

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CohBar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWBR), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing mitochondria based therapeutics to treat age-related diseases and extend healthy lifespan, today announced the appointment of Misha Petkevich to its Board of Directors. Mr. Petkevich brings to the company more than three decades of financial and investment experience with life sciences companies in leadership roles at V2M Capital, Robertson Stephens & Co. and Hambrecht & Quist.

“Misha’s perspective on the biotech industry and on CohBar is well informed by his decades of financial advisory and investment experience with biotech companies at all stages,” said Albion Fitzgerald, CohBar’s Chairman. “He has helped many of these companies turn breakthrough scientific discoveries into novel therapeutics that address major unmet medical needs and created significant value for their investors.  Those are CohBar’s strategic goals, and we believe that Misha will contribute significant value to our Board in achieving them.”

“The founders of CohBar have been leaders in elucidating the role of mitochondria and mitochondrial peptides in human health and disease, in particular in diseases of aging,” said Mr. Petkevich.  “Along with the superb scientific team at CohBar, they are working to translate these seminal discoveries into new and potentially transformational therapeutics.  I couldn’t be more excited about working with the team and Board of Directors at CohBar to help realize the potential of these discoveries and of this powerful new technology platform at the frontier of clinical medicine.”

Mr. Petkevich brings to the company more than 30 years of financial and investment experience in biotechnology and investment banking.  Since 2015, Mr. Petkevich has been the Chief Investment Officer of V2M Capital, an investment firm funding life science companies. He currently serves on the board of directors of HingeBio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing bispecific and multispecific antibodies.  In 2005, he co-founded BladeRock Capital, LLC, an investment firm specializing in life science companies. Prior to founding BladeRock Capital, Mr. Petkevich founded The Petkevich Group, a biotechnology advisory firm, where he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 1998 to 2005. Between 1989 and 1998, Mr. Petkevich served as Managing Director, as well as Head of Healthcare and Investment Banking at Robertson Stephens & Co.  Mr. Petkevich began his career at Hambrecht & Quist, an investment bank, where he served as a Principal, Head of Healthcare Banking and as a biotechnology analyst covering Genentech, Chiron and others. Mr. Petkevich received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his DPhil from the University of Oxford. 

About CohBar
CohBar (NASDAQ: CWBR) is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the research and development of mitochondria based therapeutics, an emerging class of drugs for the treatment of chronic and age-related diseases. Mitochondria based therapeutics originate from the discovery by CohBar’s founders of a novel group of naturally occurring mitochondrial-derived peptides within the mitochondrial genome which regulate metabolism and cell death, and whose biological activity declines with age. CohBar’s efforts focus on the development of these peptides into therapeutics that offer the potential to address a broad range of age-related diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), obesity, type 2 diabetes, fibrotic diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The company’s lead compound, CB4211, is in a phase 1a/1b clinical trial that includes an evaluation of biological activity relevant to NASH and obesity. To date, the company and its founders have discovered more than 100 mitochondrial-derived peptides. For additional company information, please visit www.cohbar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements which are not historical facts within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and other future conditions. In some cases you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “expect,” “goal,” “seek,” “future,” “likely” or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions. Examples of such forward-looking statements including but not limited to statements regarding anticipated outcomes of research and clinical trials for our mitochondria based therapeutic (MBT) candidates; expectations regarding the growth of MBTs as a significant future class of drug products; and statements regarding anticipated therapeutic properties and potential of our MBTs or the properties, potential and effects of newly-discovered mitochondrial-derived peptides. You are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those set forth in these forward looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include: our ability to successfully advance drug discovery and development programs, including the delay or termination of ongoing clinical trials; our possible inability to mitigate the prevalence and/or persistence of the injection site reactions, receipt of unfavorable feedback from regulators regarding the safety or tolerability of CB4211 or the possibility of other developments affecting the viability of CB4211 as a clinical candidate or its commercial potential; results that are different from earlier data results including less favorable than and that may not support further clinical development; our ability to raise additional capital when necessary to continue our operations; our ability to recruit and retain key management and scientific personnel; and our ability to establish and maintain partnerships with corporate and industry partners. Additional assumptions, risks and uncertainties are described in detail in our registration statements, reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian securities regulators, which are available on our website, and at www.sec.gov or www.sedar.com.

You are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and other information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and CohBar does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Nothing herein shall constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

Investor and Media Contact:
Jon Stern, COO
CohBar, Inc.
(650) 446-7888
jon.stern@cohbar.com

Joyce Allaire
LifeSci Advisors
jallaire@lifesciadvisors.com

Released October 23, 2019