Brian Stuglik to Retire from CEO Role; Continue
to Serve on Company’s Board of Directors
Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM) (the “Company”), a
biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new medicines for
patients with cancer, announced today that Dan Paterson, President
and Chief Operating Officer, has been promoted to President and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Brian Stuglik will retire from the
CEO role and remain a member of the Board of Directors. These
changes will be effective August 1, 2023, allowing for a smooth
leadership transition.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank
Brian for his leadership during which the Company emerged as a
recognized innovator in the development of RAS pathway treatments,”
stated Michael Kauffman, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “As
part of the Board’s succession planning for Brian’s retirement, we
recognized Dan’s extensive biopharmaceutical leadership experience,
his significant role in the progress of the Company and his vision
for the future. We are pleased to announce this well-deserved
promotion to Chief Executive Officer.”
Dan Paterson joined Verastem Oncology in 2011 and has served as
Chief Operating Officer since 2014 and President since 2019. He has
more than 30 years of experience at healthcare and biotechnology
companies. At Verastem Oncology, he spearheaded the acquisition of
lead compound avutometinib and strategic direction to accelerate
the program’s advancement. The combination of avutometinib and
defactinib received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for recurrent low-grade serous
ovarian cancer (LGSOC) and is in late-stage development.
“I am energized to build on the accomplishments we have made as
a management team and to lead Verastem Oncology forward in
establishing avutometinib as a backbone therapy for RAS
pathway-driven tumors,” said Dan Paterson. “As we are dedicated to
bringing new oncology treatments to patients with high unmet
medical need, our ability to deliver on that purpose will continue
to be what’s most important at Verastem Oncology. Having worked
closely with Brian and the Board of Directors, I look forward to
continuing our collaboration as we prepare for potential
commercialization in LGSOC. I am proud to work with our dedicated
team to ensure progress is made as quickly and effectively as
possible.”
Brian Stuglik has been the CEO of Verastem Oncology since 2019
and a member of the Board of Directors since 2017. He has been
instrumental in the transformation of the organization to become a
leader in the development of RAS-pathway treatments with a strong
pipeline and financial position. As part of his role on the Board,
he will also now be leading the Commercialization Committee.
“It's been a privilege to lead Verastem Oncology alongside the
experienced management team in setting the foundation to be a
leader in the treatment of RAS pathway cancers. I look forward to
continuing to support the Company’s future success as a member of
its Board of Directors,” said Brian Stuglik, CEO of Verastem
Oncology. “As the Company moves toward the first potential FDA
approval of a therapy for LGSOC and further advances its pipeline,
Dan’s experience and leadership will be instrumental in delivering
on the next phase of Verastem Oncology’s trajectory.”
About Avutometinib (VS-6766)
Avutometinib is a RAF/MEK clamp that induces inactive complexes
of MEK with ARAF, BRAF and CRAF potentially creating a more
complete and durable anti-tumor response through maximal RAS
pathway inhibition. Avutometinib is currently in late-stage
development.
In contrast to other MEK inhibitors, avutometinib blocks both
MEK kinase activity and the ability of RAF to phosphorylate MEK.
This unique mechanism allows avutometinib to block MEK signaling
without the compensatory activation of MEK that appears to limit
the efficacy of other inhibitors. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for the
combination of Verastem Oncology’s investigational RAF/MEK clamp
avutometinib, with defactinib, its FAK inhibitor, for the treatment
of all patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer
(LGSOC) regardless of KRAS status after one or more prior lines of
therapy, including platinum-based chemotherapy.
Verastem Oncology is currently conducting clinical trials with
its RAF/MEK clamp avutometinib in RAS pathway-driven tumors as part
of its (Raf And Mek Program). RAMP 201
is a registration-directed trial of avutometinib alone and in
combination with defactinib in patients with recurrent LGSOC.
Verastem Oncology has established clinical collaborations with
Amgen and Mirati to evaluate LUMAKRAS™ (sotorasib) and KRAZATI™
(adagrasib) in combination with avutometinib in KRAS G12C mutant
NSCLC as part of the RAMP 203 and RAMP 204 trials, respectively.
Supported by the “Therapeutic Accelerator Award” Verastem Oncology
received from PanCAN, the Company is conducting RAMP 205, a Phase
1b/2 clinical trial evaluating avutometinib and defactinib with
gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with front-line metastatic
pancreatic cancer.
About Verastem Oncology
Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM) is a development-stage
biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and
commercialization of new medicines to improve the lives of patients
diagnosed with cancer. Our pipeline is focused on novel small
molecule drugs that inhibit critical signaling pathways in cancer
that promote cancer cell survival and tumor growth, including
RAF/MEK inhibition and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibition. For
more information, please visit www.verastem.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Notice
This press release includes forward-looking statements about
Verastem Oncology’s strategy, future plans and prospects, including
statements related to the potential clinical value of various of
its clinical trials. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "target,"
"potential," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue," “can,”
“promising” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain these identifying words. Each forward-looking
statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied
in such statement.
Applicable risks and uncertainties include the risks and
uncertainties, among other things, regarding: the success in the
development and potential commercialization of our product
candidates, including avutometinib in combination with other
compounds, including defactinib, LUMAKRASTM and others; the
occurrence of adverse safety events and/or unexpected concerns that
may arise from additional data or analysis or result in
unmanageable safety profiles as compared to their levels of
efficacy; our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent and
other intellectual property protection for our product candidates;
the scope, timing, and outcome of any legal proceedings; decisions
by regulatory authorities regarding trial design, labeling and
other matters that could affect the timing, availability or
commercial potential of our product candidates; whether preclinical
testing of our product candidates and preliminary or interim data
from clinical trials will be predictive of the results or success
of ongoing or later clinical trials; that the timing, scope and
rate of reimbursement for our product candidates is uncertain; that
third-party payors (including government agencies) may not
reimburse; that there may be competitive developments affecting our
product candidates; that data may not be available when expected;
that enrollment of clinical trials may take longer than expected;
that our product candidates will experience manufacturing or supply
interruptions or failures; that we will be unable to successfully
initiate or complete the clinical development and eventual
commercialization of our product candidates; that the development
and commercialization of our product candidates will take longer or
cost more than planned, including as a result of conducting
additional studies; that we or Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will
fail to fully perform under the avutometinib license agreement;
that we or our other collaboration partners may fail to perform
under our collaboration agreements; that we may not have sufficient
cash to fund our contemplated operations; that we may be unable to
obtain adequate financing in the future through product licensing,
co-promotional arrangements, public or private equity, debt
financing or otherwise; that Secura Bio, Inc. will achieve the
milestones that result in payments to us under our asset purchase
agreement with Secura Bio, Inc.; that we will be unable to execute
on our partnering strategies for avutometinib in combination with
other compounds; that we will not pursue or submit regulatory
filings for our product candidates; and that our product candidates
will not receive regulatory approval, become commercially
successful products, or result in new treatment options being
offered to patients.
Other risks and uncertainties include those identified under the
heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2022 as filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 14, 2023 and in any
subsequent filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements
contained in this press release reflect Verastem Oncology’s views
as of the date hereof, and the Company does not assume and
specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise, except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230711986153/en/
Investors: Dan Calkins Investor Relations +1 781-469-1694
dcalkins@verastem.com
Nate LiaBraaten +1 212-600-1902 nate@argotpartners.com
Media: Lisa Buffington Corporate Communications +1
781-292-4205 lbuffington@verastem.com
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