Centessa Pharmaceuticals Appoints One of the World’s Leading Drug Developers, Antoine Yver, M.D., M.Sc., as Chief Medical Officer

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (“Centessa”) today announced that Antoine Yver, M.D., M.Sc., has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Yver is one of the world’s leading drug developers with more than 30 years of global experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Antoine to our team as CMO,” said Saurabh Saha, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Centessa. “Antoine is a true industry leader with significant experience and success as a drug developer, having developed some of the most impactful oncology drugs in the world. I look forward to partnering with him as we advance our portfolio of preclinical programs into the clinic and progress our four assets currently in clinical development.”

“I am delighted to be joining Centessa, a differentiated company with a unique operating model,” said Dr. Yver. “Centessa’s asset-centric model exemplifies the very best practices that I have experienced and implemented in the industry. I am honored to be working with such a talented leadership team and exceptional Board and look forward to helping establish this bold new R&D enterprise while we strive to bring important new medicines to patients.”

Dr. Yver brings more than 30 years of global experience in the pharmaceutical industry to Centessa and has played a pivotal role in the development and approvals of 11 different drugs, including Tagrisso^®, Lynparza^®, and Enhertu^®. He led the development of Tagrisso^® in 2 years 7 months from first human dose to U.S. approval and its rapid deployment to all other major regions, which was the fastest ever for an anti-cancer drug. Dr. Yver joins the company from Daiichi Sankyo, where he served as Executive Vice President and Global Head, R&D Oncology, and Chair of the Cancer Enterprise. Previously, Dr. Yver was with AstraZeneca, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Global Medicine Head, Oncology, and Global Medicines Development China Lead. Earlier, he held various clinical development roles at Schering-Plough/Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, Inc, Applied Immune Sciences, Inc, and Chugai-RP. Dr. Yver is a pediatric oncologist and holds an M.D. from Université Paris-Saclay.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Limited is a next-generation biopharmaceutical company that aims to reshape the traditional drug development process. The company applies an asset-centric R&D model at scale to advance a portfolio of programs led by industry-leading teams. Each program is developed by one of ten Centessa subsidiaries and supported by centralized infrastructure and the Centessa management team. For more information, visit www.centessa.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements we make in this press release may include statements that are not historical facts, which are usually identified by the use of words such as “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” and variations of such words or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations, plans and prospects regarding the clinical development plans and timing, clinical trial designs, clinical and therapeutic potential, and strategy for any of our programs reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, the success of clinical trials, regulatory filings, and approvals. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of Centessa’s management team as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Furthermore, Centessa operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment in which new risks emerge from time to time. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Contact information

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