Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Strengthens Senior Management Team
July 09 2018 - 7:00AM
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNSS) today announced three
key new management appointments as part of the Company’s expansion
of its development team. Deepali Suri, M.Sc., a former Executive
Director at Pharmacyclics (an AbbVie Company), was appointed Vice
President, Clinical Operations, and Sean Gharpurey, M.S., MBA,
joined as Executive Director, Project Management. Stephen Nava was
promoted to Vice President, Quality Assurance, Compliance and
Regulatory Affairs.
“We are excited to have Deepali, Sean, and Steve
join our senior development team as we advance our kinase
portfolio, including our lead asset vecabrutinib,” said Judy Fox,
PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Sunesis. “Each brings extensive
and highly relevant industry experience to the table. Deepali, our
new Vice President of Clinical Operations, led global clinical
trials for ibrutinib while at Pharmacyclics (an AbbVie Company) and
has a track record of excellence in oncology clinical development.
Sean is assuming leadership of Program Management at Sunesis,
having developed and implemented project management and resource
management functions and strategic portfolio processes at leading
pharmaceutical companies. Steve has a unique breadth of experience
in quality, compliance, CMC, and regulatory affairs, and has
distinguished himself over the last 2 ½ years as the head of
Quality and Compliance at Sunesis. We are looking forward to
leveraging his knowledge and leadership in his expanded role.”
Ms. Suri brings more than 15 years of experience
in clinical operations and oncology drug development. Prior to
Sunesis, she was an Executive Director, Clinical Operations at
Pharmacyclics (an AbbVie Company), where she served as a member of
the development leadership team and led global Phase 1-3 clinical
trials for ibruinib and abexinostat. She was a key contributor to
the regulatory approval of Ibrutinib in treatment naïve CLL/SLL,
MZL and other indications. She previously held clinical trial
management roles at PPD and Pfizer, which gives her the unique
experience of having been on both the pharmaceutical and CRO sides
of clinical operations. Ms. Suri has M.Sc. in Pharmacy
(Pharmacology) and a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from Delhi
University.
Mr. Gharpurey was Executive Director, Strategic
Business Improvement at Jazz Pharmaceuticals and supported the
scale-up of the research and development organization. He has
experience implementing enterprise project/resource management and
clinical trial analytics systems. Mr. Gharpurey has also held
senior level project and resource management roles at Roche,
Genentech, Schering AG, Johnson & Johnson, and QuestOne
Decision Sciences. Mr. Gharpurey holds an MBA from the University
of North Carolina and M.S. and B. Tech. degrees in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Missouri and the Indian
Institute of Technology.
Mr. Nava has 24 years of experience in quality
assurance, CMC, and regulatory affairs and most recently served as
Sunesis’ Executive Director of Quality Assurance and Compliance and
was responsible for the development of the Company’s CMC regulatory
strategy and process. Before Sunesis, Mr. Nava was a Senior
Consultant at Chamow & Associates and specialized in providing
quality assurance, CMC, and regulatory affairs services to
biotechnology companies. He previously was the Director of
Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at BiPar, a Sanofi
company, where he established and maintained the Company’s quality
assurance programs policies, and procedures. He held similar
regulatory affairs roles at Acumen Sciences, Theravance, and Axys
Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Nava has B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics
from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
About Sunesis
Pharmaceuticals
Sunesis is a biopharmaceutical company
developing new therapeutics for the treatment of hematologic and
solid cancers. Sunesis has built an experienced drug development
organization committed to improving the lives of people with
cancer. The Company is focused on advancing its novel
kinase-inhibitor pipeline, with an emphasis on establishing proof
of concept that its oral non-covalent BTK-inhibitor vecabrutinib is
effective in ibrutinib-resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Vecabrutinib is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 study in
adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other B-cell
malignancies who have progressed after prior therapies. Beyond the
development of vecabrutinib, the Company has two other kinase
inhibitor programs, including Sunesis’ proprietary preclinical PDK1
inhibitor SNS-510, which is in preclinical development with an IND
submission planned in 2019, and the Takeda-partnered pan-RAF
inhibitor TAK-580, which is in a clinical trial for pediatric
low-grade glioma. PDK1 is a master kinase that activates
other kinases important to cell growth and survival including
members of the AKT, PKC, RSK and SGK families. Sunesis is also
seeking a partner to fund the completion of development for
vosaroxin, a Phase 3 investigational product for relapsed or
refractory AML.
For additional information on Sunesis, please
visit www.sunesis.com.
SUNESIS and the logos are trademarks
of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
This press release contains forward-looking
statements, including statements related to Sunesis’ cash
sufficiency forecast, the continued development of vecabrutinib
(SNS-062), including the timing of Phase 1b/2 trial of vecabrutinib
and the therapeutic potential of vecabrutinib, further development
and potential of its kinase inhibitor pipeline, and planned
development of SNS-510. Words such as “believe,” “expect,” “look
forward,” “potential,” “will” and similar expressions are intended
to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are based upon Sunesis' current expectations.
Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
Sunesis' actual results and the timing of events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking
statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which
include, without limitation, the risk related to the timing or
conduct of Sunesis' clinical trials, including the vecabrutinib
Phase 1b/2 trial, the risk that Sunesis' clinical or preclinical
studies for vecabrutinib, SNS-510 or other product candidate may
not demonstrate safety or efficacy or lead to regulatory approval,
the risk that data to date and trends may not be predictive of
future data or results, risks related to the timing or conduct of
Sunesis' clinical trials, that Sunesis' development activities for
vecabrutinib or SNS-510 could be otherwise halted or significantly
delayed for various reasons, that Sunesis may not be able to
receive regulatory approval of vecabrutinib, or SNS-510 in the U.S.
or Europe, and risks related to Sunesis' ability to raise the
capital that it believes to be accessible and is required to fully
finance the development and commercialization of vecabrutinib,
SNS-510 and other product candidates. These and other risk factors
are discussed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Sunesis'
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018
and Sunesis' other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Sunesis expressly disclaims any obligation or
undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statements contained herein reflect any change in
Sunesis' expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are
based.
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Investor and Media
Inquiries:Maeve ConneightonArgot Partners212-600-1902 |
Willie
QuinnSunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc.650-266-3716 |
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