-- Event will feature Dr. Randolph Hecht (Professor, UCLA GI Oncology Program) and Howard Brown (CRC Survivor, Patient and Advocate) --

EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gritstone bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that aims to develop the world’s most potent vaccines, today announced it will host a virtual key opinion leader (KOL) event on Friday, August 2 at 9:00 AM ET featuring J. Randolph Hecht, MD, (Professor, UCLA Gastrointestinal Oncology Program) and Howard Brown (CRC Survivor, Patient and Advocate) who will discuss the unmet need and current treatment landscape for patients with metastatic microsatellite stable colorectal cancer (MSS-CRC). To register, click here.

Gritstone management will also highlight the development of Gritstone’s personalized neoantigen vaccine program, GRANITE, as a potential treatment for immunologically “cold” tumors including MSS-CRC. Mature progression-free survival data from a randomized Phase 2 study of GRANITE in frontline MSS-CRC are expected in the third quarter of 2024.

A live Q&A session will follow the formal presentations.

About J. Randolph Hecht, MD
J. Randolph Hecht, MD is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine. He holds the Carol and Saul Rosenzweig Chair for Cancer Therapies Development and is the Director of the UCLA Gastrointestinal Oncology Program. Dr. Hecht attended medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He took his internal medicine residency at Northwestern and completed fellowships in gastroenterology research at the University of Chicago, and in gastroenterology and medical oncology at UCLA. Dr. Hecht is an internationally known clinical and translational researcher in the field of gastrointestinal cancers. He has published widely on the molecular biology, early detection, and treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. He has led and is currently directing small trials with new molecules as well as large international randomized trials. Current ongoing research includes preclinical models of therapy with biological agents, early studies with gene therapy vectors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and leading phase II and phase III trials with novel agents.

About Howard Brown
Howard Brown is a two-time Stage IV cancer patient, survivor, advocate, technology entrepreneur, husband, dad and avid basketball player. In 1989 at the age of 23, Howard was diagnosed with Stage IVe Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After failing three chemotherapy regimens, he had an allogeneic (from a donor) bone marrow transplant from his twin sister who was an exact HLA match. That, along with massive chemotherapy and full body radiation saved his life. Twenty-six years after achieving remission, Howard was diagnosed with Stage III Colon Cancer at age fifty via a standard colonoscopy. After two colon resection surgeries, intense chemotherapy and a failed clinical trial he turned metastatic Stage IV and discovered the cancer had spread to his liver, peritoneum, omentum and small bowel. After salvage second line chemotherapy showed some regression (shrinkage), Howard underwent Cytoreduction Surgery (debulking / removal of live and dead cancer cells) with Heated intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (hot chemo wash to kill micro cancer cells– (CRS HIPEC). Howard is currently considered No Evidence of Disease (NED) at this time after 9 consecutive CT scans. He serves as the Board Chair and President of Colontown, an organization that serves over 11,000 patients and caregivers with colorectal cancer. Howard is a proud graduate and past trustee of Babson College, #1 for entrepreneurship, and lives with his family in Birmingham, Michigan.