Epic Sciences Appoints Chris Bernard as Chief Commercial Officer

Entrepreneurial executive joins Epic to commercialize real-time cancer diagnostics founded on circulating tumor cell analysis from liquid biopsies.

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Epic Sciences announced  today the appointment of Chris Bernard as chief commercial officer. Mr. Bernard has more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive and company officer leading sales and marketing teams to build biopharma and translational research partnerships and commercialize IVD platforms. At Epic, Mr. Bernard will oversee the expansion of Epic's technology in clinical studies as part of collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and leading cancer research centers. He will also execute plans to commercialize and support Epic's independent and companion diagnostic products. Epic is developing diagnostic tests of high clinical utility to deliver real-time detection of genomic and proteomic changes in circulating tumor cells from a liquid biopsy. These changes are manifestations of the clonal heterogeneity that evolves during the course of cancer treatment and can be used to match patients to singular or combination therapies or monitor for drug resistance.

"Today, Epic has more than 30 collaborations with pharma companies and cancer research centers spanning 67 clinical studies," said Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., president and CEO of Epic Sciences. "Epic's technology has had a strong adoption in the marketplace without a commercial team, because we have delivered robust, reproducible results and novel insights. We look forward to working with Chris, who is an experienced executive and dynamic leader, in driving market adoption to grow our biopharma and translational research partnerships and develop our diagnostic business through a globally-distributed product portfolio."

"I have been impressed with Epic's unbiased 'no cell left behind' technology. Epic's global platform can help inform therapeutic development, therapy selection and resistance monitoring by identifying all types of circulating tumor cells, analyzing them for mutations and assessing heterogeneity," said Mr. Bernard. "I am excited to join Epic and help construct a high-performing market-focused commercial team and commercialization strategy.  I look forward to working together to deliver new cancer diagnostics that can provide actionable and real-time information to better target cancer treatments and improve patient outcomes."

Prior to joining Epic Sciences, Mr. Bernard was senior vice president, Sales and Marketing and an officer of Metabolon Inc., where he rebuilt the Metabolytics business, a business-to-business biochemical profiling service responsible for a majority of the company's total sales at the time. Prior to Metabolon, he was vice president, Sales and Marketing and an officer of Abaxis, Inc., where he led the sales and marketing for the company's point-of-care diagnostic chemistry platform, Piccolo Xpress®. He began his career at Cytyc Corporation, ultimately becoming the regional business director.  At Cytyc, Mr. Bernard was responsible for growth in sales and management of a portfolio of diagnostic products, including ThinPrep® Pap Test and Imager and NovaSure® endometrial ablation. He is a board certified cytologist and is a member of the American Society of Cytologists, American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the International Academy of Cytology. Mr. Bernard received a B.A. in psychobiology from Hiram College.

About Epic Sciences

Epic Sciences, Inc. is developing novel diagnostics to personalize and advance the treatment and management of cancer. Epic's mission is to enable the rapid and non-invasive detection of genetic and molecular changes in cancer throughout a patient's journey. The company was founded on a powerful platform to identify and characterize rare cells, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Epic's no cell left behind™ technology helps match patients to targeted therapies and monitor for drug resistance, so that the best treatment path can be chosen at every clinical decision point. Today, we partner with leading pharmaceutical companies and major cancer centers around the world. Epic's goal is to commercialize our technology to increase the success rate of cancer drugs in clinical trials and improve patient outcomes by providing physicians real-time information to guide treatment choices.