Monday, January 23, 2012

Cerulean taps Chris Guiffre as new chief business officer

By Rodney H. Brown

Cambridge nanopharmaceutical company Cerulean Pharma Inc. has named Chris Guiffre to the newly created position of chief business officer.

According to a release from Cerulean, Guiffre was also named a senior vice president of the company, which is focused on designing and developing tumor-targeted nanopharmaceuticals. Most recently, Guiffre served as president and CEO of Alvos Therapeutics Inc., a Waltham biopharmaceutical startup developing “guided therapeutics” that destroy cancer cells while sparing normal tissues.

Prior to Alvos, Guiffre held another chief business officer role, this one at Hydra Biosciences Inc. He was also formerly senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to Cubist, he held positions including vice president, general counsel and clerk at Renaissance Worldwide Inc. Guiffre earned a bachelor’s degree from Babson College, a J.D. from Boston College Law School, and an MBA from Boston College Carroll School of Management.

Last month Cerulean rounded up a $15 million Series D funding to support its tumor-targeted nanopharmaceutical development. That investment brought in new lead backer CVF LLC, with additional financing from return investors Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock, Lilly Ventures, Lux Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.  At the time, the company said it planned to use proceeds from the funding round to complete its Phase 2 clinical trial of its main drug candidate CRLX101, its intended treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Cerulean’s Series C round, which closed in November 2010, raised $24 million, led by Lilly Ventures. Those proceeds helped it launch Phase 2 trials for CRLX101.