-Industry Leader Brings Deep Oncology and Company Building Experience-
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Theracrine, Inc., the first biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to treat cancer spread, today announced the appointment of Steven Kelly as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Kelly brings to Theracrine a two decade long accomplished track record in oncology drug development, commercialization and business development. Most recently, Mr. Kelly was the Chief Commercial Officer for BioVex, a leader in the field of oncolytic viruses, and was responsible for leading the company’s commercial efforts. BioVex was sold to Amgen earlier this year in a transaction valued at $1 billion. Prior to BioVex, Mr. Kelly was founder and CEO of Innovive Pharmaceuticals, an oncology company with four products under development. Prior to that Mr. Kelly held senior roles at Sanofi Synthelabo Oncology, where he was responsible for launching Eloxatin®; IDEC Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for launching Rituxan®; and Amgen where he held a variety of commercial and manufacturing roles.
Theracrine is improving cancer patient survival by developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer spread, which is responsible for 90% of cancer related morbidity and mortality. Theracrine will lead the development and translation of cancer spread biology into novel cancer therapeutics. Mr. Kelly joins Chief Scientific Officer, Jim Barsoum in driving forward the company’s cancer spread platform and emerging product development pipeline including a lead program targeted to enter the clinic within 15 months. “Theracrine is uniquely positioned to translate breakthrough discoveries in cancer spread to impact patient’s lives,” commented Joan Massagué, Chairman of Cancer Biology and Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Theracrine Founder.
"Theracrine is a pioneer in a very exciting new area in cancer biology. I believe our discovery and development platform has the potential to create a new class of breakthrough therapeutics that will fundamentally change cancer treatment outcomes,” said Steven Kelly, Theracrine’s incoming Chief Executive Officer. “The company already has a significant foundation in place with a clear vision, great people, and an exciting pipeline. I’m thrilled with the opportunity to lead Theracrine as we continue to expand our world class team and advance our lead compounds into the clinic.”
“We are delighted to welcome Steve to the Theracrine team,” said David Berry, Founder and Chairman, Theracrine and Partner, Flagship Ventures. “Theracrine is breaking new ground as it develops the next generation of cancer therapeutics. Steve’s experience in bringing previous generations of breakthrough cancer drugs to market makes him an ideal fit to lead the company.”
About Cancer Spread
Cancer spread, comprising local invasion and metastasis to distant organs such as the lungs, bones, liver and brain, is a newly appreciated field of biology that provides a novel approach to treating cancer. Cancer spread is marked by fundamental changes in cellular biology that allow it to grow and survive beyond tumor margins, both locally and systemically. This biology is a heavily coordinated set of activities in which cancer cells co-opt factors from biologies such as embryonic development and immunology to induce migration and establish addictive survival signals through interactions between the tumor and its microenvironment. Identifying key factors that drive cancer spread provides a powerful intervention point for the discovery and development of cancer therapeutics.
About Theracrine™
Theracrine is a private biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics in the emerging field of cancer spread. To drive these efforts, Theracrine has built a robust target and drug discovery platform integrating novel molecular target identification and validation, rapid generation of lead agents, and the evaluation of drug candidates in state-of-the-art animal models of invasion and metastatic cancer. Theracrine’s biology platform has produced multiple proprietary molecular targets and the company is rapidly developing therapeutics against the highest priority targets. Theracrine, based in Cambridge, MA was founded in 2010 by life science investor Flagship Ventures and the scientific leaders in the biology of cancer spread including Joan Massagué, Ph.D., Robert Weinberg, Ph.D., Douglas Hanahan, Ph.D. and Michael Rosenblatt, M.D. For more information, please visit www.theracrine.com.
CONTACT:
Theracrine, Inc.
Steven Kelly, 617-218-1618
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Oncology Pharmaceutical
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