SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RAPT), a clinical-stage, immunology-based therapeutics company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in inflammatory diseases and oncology, today announced the appointment of Michael Listgarten as General Counsel.

“I’m excited to welcome Michael to the RAPT leadership team,” said Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of RAPT. “As we advance from development toward potential commercialization, Michael’s deep legal expertise and organizational leadership experience from a broad spectrum of biopharmaceutical companies will be instrumental in our growth.”

Michael has over 25 years of law firm and in-house experience, focused on helping biopharmaceutical companies manage the transition from late-stage clinical development to commercial entities. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Healthcare Law & Chief Compliance Officer at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, overseeing legal support for the commercial and medical functions, advising on critical transactions, and ensuring compliance with the complex system of laws and regulations governing the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to Adamas, he served as Vice President of Healthcare Law at Principia Biopharma. Michael also worked for 16 years at Genentech, Inc., where he led a large team of attorneys providing legal and compliance support for the development, manufacture, distribution and sale of both large and small molecule therapies. Michael began his career at Covington & Burling LLP. Michael holds a J.D. and Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael added, “It’s an exciting time to join RAPT. We have two promising product candidates in development, and we have potential pivotal trials on the horizon. I look forward to contributing to the continued advancement of the pipeline and the growth of the company as we look to provide broad access to our innovative oral therapies.”

About RAPT Therapeutics, Inc.
RAPT Therapeutics is a clinical stage immunology-based therapeutics company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in inflammatory diseases and oncology. Utilizing its proprietary discovery and development engine, the company is developing highly selective small molecules designed to modulate the critical immune drivers underlying these diseases. RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, RPT193 and FLX475, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), for the treatment of inflammation and cancer, respectively. The company is also pursuing a range of targets that are in the discovery stage of development.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Each of these statements is based only on current information, assumptions and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the therapeutic potential of RPT193 and FLX475, RAPT’s growth and advancement toward commercialization, and other statements that are not historical fact. Many factors may cause differences between current expectations and actual results, including unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during clinical studies, preliminary data and trends that may not be predictive of future data or results or that may not demonstrate safety or efficacy or lead to regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory agencies, clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, the uncertainties and timing of the regulatory approval process, the timing and results of unexpected litigation or other disputes, and the sufficiency of RAPT’s cash resources. Detailed information regarding risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by statements in this press release may be found in RAPT’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 14, 2023 and subsequent filings made by RAPT with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. RAPT disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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