Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq:VSTM), a biopharmaceutical company
committed to advancing new medicines for patients with cancer,
today announced the appointment of Anil Kapur to its Board of
Directors, effective October 20, 2022. Mr. Kapur is the Executive
Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Chief Commercial Officer at
Geron Corporation.
“Anil’s deep experience in oncology and his track record of
product launch and commercial operations excellence will be
invaluable as Verastem works to bring its lead compound RAF/MEK
clamp VS-6766 in combinations across RAS-driven tumors to
patients,” said Michael Kauffman, M.D., Ph.D., Lead Director of the
Verastem Oncology Board of Directors. “I am pleased to welcome Anil
to the Board of Directors and believe he will be a tremendous
source of strategic insights and guidance.”
“I’m looking forward to joining Verastem’s Board of Directors as
the Company works to advance its development program toward
potential market availability in recurrent low-grade serous ovarian
cancer, an area of unmet need,” said Mr. Kapur. “I am excited to
combine my experience with the important progress the Company is
making in addressing difficult to treat RAS pathway driven tumors
through combinations with VS-6766.”
Mr. Kapur is an experienced executive with more than 25 years of
experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies across both US
and international markets. He has held senior leadership positions
overseeing the launch of significant global brands, building and
managing commercial capabilities in both small and large
organizations, driving corporate strategy, and managing
alliances.
Prior to Geron, Mr. Kapur served as the Chief Commercial Officer
at Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and as the Vice President, Head
of Early Assets, Biomarkers and External Innovation for Worldwide
Oncology Commercialization at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
Previously, Mr. Kapur was Vice President, Global Head of Commercial
and Portfolio Strategy at Baxalta, Incorporated, which was acquired
by Shire PLC in 2016. Before joining Baxalta, Mr. Kapur served as
the Vice President, Commercial Leader Hematology Franchise at
Johnson & Johnson's global pharmaceutical strategy organization
and in various sales and marketing leadership roles. Mr. Kapur
holds a BE from Birla Institute of Technology in India, an MS in
Industrial Engineering from Louisiana Tech University, and an MBA
from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
About VS-6766
VS-6766 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. VS-6766 is currently in late-stage development.
In contrast to other MEK inhibitors, VS-6766 blocks both MEK
kinase activity and the ability of RAF to phosphorylate MEK. This
unique mechanism allows VS-6766 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 VS-6766, 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 in RAS-driven tumors as part of its (Raf
And Mek Program). RAMP 201 is a
registration-directed trial of VS-6766 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 adagrasib in combination with
VS-6766 in KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC as part of the RAMP 203 and RAMP
204 trials, respectively. As part of the “Therapeutic Accelerator
Award” Verastem Oncology received from the Pancreatic Cancer
Network (PanCAN), the Company is conducting RAMP 205, a Phase 1b/2
clinical trial evaluating VS-6766 and defactinib with
gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with front-line metastatic
pancreatic cancer.
About Verastem Oncology
Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM) (Verastem, Inc.) 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 timing of trials and potential for
additional development programs involving Verastem Oncology’s lead
compound. 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 VS-6766 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 labeling and other matters that could affect
the 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; that we or Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will fail to
fully perform under the VS-6766 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 VS-6766 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, 2021 as filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 28, 2022 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/20221020005188/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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