CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–KSQ
Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Beni B. Wolf, MD,
PhD, as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Wolf brings nearly 20 years of
experience in the biopharmaceutical industry as a senior clinical leader
in oncology drug development, with expertise advancing new oncology
programs in the clinic and optimizing patient selection to enable rapid
proof of concept and registration. He joins KSQ at a time when the
company prepares to advance its first therapeutic program into the
clinic in 2020, followed by additional oncology programs that address
optimal therapeutic targets based on its CRISPRomics™
technology.
Most recently, Dr. Wolf was Senior Vice President, Clinical Development
at Blueprint Medicines, where he advanced three oncology programs for
novel kinase inhibitors from investigational new drug (IND) applications
to clinical proof-of-concept. During his four-year tenure, the clinical
progress on Blueprint’s pipeline of oncology programs resulted in three
breakthrough designations, plenary presentations for three different
clinical programs at major oncology meetings, multiple publications in
high-impact peer-reviewed cancer journals, and a range of other data
presentations to the oncology and biotechnology communities. Dr. Wolf
also played a leadership role in the global registration strategies for
these kinase inhibitor programs, including preparation of the regulatory
submission for the most advanced kinase inhibitor as a treatment for
advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
“Ben has an impressive track record of driving the clinical development
of innovative oncology medicines, and his expertise is ideally suited to
KSQ as we prepare to advance our oncology product candidates towards
clinical testing in cancer patients,” said David Meeker, MD, Chief
Executive Officer of KSQ. “We are delighted to bring Ben’s exceptional
experience across all aspects of drug development to help us realize the
potential of KSQ’s emerging pipeline of cancer medicines that we believe
can advance cancer treatment based on the insights from our CRISPRomics
technology.”
Previously, Dr. Wolf served as Senior Medical Director for Merrimack
Pharmaceuticals where he advanced preclinical, translational and
clinical development of a novel cancer antibody, leading all aspects of
drug development, biomarker/companion diagnostic development, clinical
planning, publications and patent submissions. Prior to working at
Merrimack, he served in clinical and medical director roles at
ImmunoGen, Amgen and Genentech. Dr. Wolf started his industry career as
a discovery scientist at Genentech. He earned a BS from Union College.
Dr. Wolf received his MD and PhD (Biochemistry) from the University of
Virginia, and board certification in Internal Medicine and Medical
Oncology after completing medical training at the University of
California at San Diego. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed
publications and multiple patents related to drug discoveries.
“I believe that KSQ’s CRISPRomics approach holds tremendous potential
for developing high-impact cancer medicines that can set new standards
in the field of oncology,” said Dr. Wolf. “I share the passion of the
KSQ team to rapidly advance new cancer treatments that make a meaningful
impact on the lives of cancer patients.”
About KSQ Therapeutics
KSQ
Therapeutics is using CRISPR technology within a powerful drug
discovery engine to enable high-confidence drug development. The company
is advancing a pipeline of
tumor- and immune-focused drug candidates for the treatment of cancer,
across multiple drug modalities including targeted therapies, adoptive
cell therapies and immuno-therapies. KSQ’s proprietary CRISPRomics™
drug discovery engine enables genome-scale, in vivo validated,
unbiased drug discovery across broad therapeutic areas. KSQ was founded
by thought leaders in the field of functional genomics and pioneers of
CRISPR screening technologies, and the company is located in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. For more information, please visit the company’s website
at www.ksqtx.com.
Contacts
Kathryn Morris
The Yates Network
Tel: 914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com