On February 5, 2018 Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLCM), a leader in developing novel, controllable cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan inherited blood disorders, reported the appointment of William Grossman, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer, effective February 5 (Press release, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, FEB 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234523720]). Dr. Grossman joins Bellicum from Genentech/Roche.

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"We are excited to have Bill join Bellicum. His expertise in the development of cancer immunotherapies and combinations will strengthen our team as we advance and expand our CAR T and TCR pipeline and prepare for the regulatory filing and potential commercialization of BPX-501 in Europe," said Bellicum’s President & CEO Rick Fair.

Commented Dr. Grossman: "I am thrilled to join Bellicum at this exciting time. Cellular immunotherapies are transforming how we treat cancer. Bellicum’s novel platform for controlling the activity of immune cells may help us improve upon the current generation, extending the benefit of these life-saving immunotherapies to more types of cancer."

In his most recent role at Genentech, Dr. Grossman served as the Group Medical Director, Cancer Immunotherapy, where he led the global clinical development of TECENTRIQ in gastrointestinal cancers and of cancer immunotherapy combinations across all solid tumor types. Among other accomplishments in this role, Dr. Grossman conceived and led the development of the Phase 1b/2 MORPHEUS platform to evaluate cancer immunotherapy combinations more rapidly and efficiently. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, Research & Clinical Development at Biothera, where he oversaw all discovery and clinical development efforts in oncology and immunology. Dr. Grossman has also held leadership positions in research, clinical development, and medical affairs at AbbVie, Baxter Healthcare, and Merck & Co., where he was involved in the development and clinical study of cancer vaccines, immunomodulatory agents, and small molecules/biologics in oncology.

Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Grossman held various positions with the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and was Founder and Medical Director of the Clinical Immunodiagnostic and Research Laboratory, Professor for Microbiology and Genetics, and Director of the Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant Division for the Immunodeficiency Transplant Program. Dr. Grossman earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his medical training in the Division of Pediatric Biology/Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Inducement Awards

The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has approved inducement awards to Dr. Grossman, which will be granted effective on his start date. The inducement awards consist of a stock option to purchase up to 175,000 shares of the Company’s common stock priced at the closing price of the Common Stock on the grant date of February 5, 2018, and a restricted stock unit for 30,000 shares of common stock. The stock option and restricted stock unit award will be granted subject to the terms of the Company’s 2014 Equity Incentive Plan. One-fourth of the shares subject to the stock option award will vest on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Grossman’s start date and the remainder of the shares will vest in a series of 36 successive equal monthly installments thereafter, and 25% of the shares subject to the restricted stock unit award will vest on each anniversary of Dr. Grossman’s start date, in each case subject to his continuous service with the Company through each such vesting date and subject to potential vesting acceleration under certain circumstances pursuant to the terms of Dr. Grossman’s employment agreement with the Company.