Kite Pharma Expands R&D Team, Appoints Dr. William Y. Go as Senior Director, Clinical Development and Jeff Aycock as Senior Director, Clinical Operations

Santa Monica, CA – June 10, 2014 – Kite Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT™) products for the treatment of cancer, today announced the expansion of Kite's research and development leadership team with the appointments of William Y. Go, M.D., Ph.D., as Senior Director, Clinical Development and Jeff Aycock as Senior Director, Clinical Operations.

"I am delighted to announce the additions of Will Go and Jeff Aycock, each of whom brings a distinguished track record in oncology R&D within leadership roles at Amgen," commented Arie Belldegrun, M.D., Kite's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "These hires continue the momentum in expanding our clinical development team, which has included the recent appointments of Dr. Jeff Wiezorek as VP of Clinical Development and of Dr. David Chang as our new Chief Medical Officer."

Prior to joining Kite, Dr. Go held senior positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen, most recently as U.S. Medical Lead for Vectibix®, Medical Director in Global Development.  He led the US Vectibix® Development team to a successful label expansion of this product and also served as clinical lead for the Amgen's immunotherapy strategy team.  Dr. Go has co-authored 25 peer-reviewed articles and presentation abstracts.  He received his B.A. degree in Biology from the Carleton College and his combined M.D. and Ph.D. degree from the UCSD Medical Scientist Training Program.  He also trained in internal medicine and completed his hematology/oncology fellowship at UCSD Moores Cancer Center, where he investigated the role of and developed novel immunotherapeutics targeting ROR-1 in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in the laboratory of Dr. Tom Kipps.

Mr. Aycock brings more than 17 years of drug development experience investigating a broad range of oncology drug candidates in both the pediatric and adult settings.  Prior to joining Kite, Mr. Aycock held roles of increasing responsibility over 13 years at Amgen.  He was a key leader within the Kepivance® and Nplate® development programs that resulted in Biological License Application (BLA) submissions and marketing authorizations for both drug candidates.  In his most recent position at Amgen as Director, Oncology Study Management & U.S. Regional Lead, Mr. Aycock oversaw five oncology programs, ensuring alignment between the global strategies, study design and execution of phase II-IV clinical trials.  He began his career at Parexel and Pfizer.  Mr. Aycock received his B.A. degree in Biology from California Lutheran University.

About Kite Pharma Kite Pharma, Inc., is a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of novel cancer immunotherapy products, with a primary focus on eACT™ designed to restore the immune system's ability to recognize and eradicate tumors.  In partnership with the NCI Surgery Branch through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), Kite is advancing a pipeline of proprietary eACT™ product candidates, both CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) and TCR (T cell receptor) products, directed to a wide range of cancer indications.  Kite's management team has a proven track record of building successful biotechnology companies and successfully developing novel immunotherapies and other oncology treatments.  Kite is based in Santa Monica, CA.

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