Kura Oncology Announces Appointment of Kathleen Ford as Chief Operating Officer
August 12 2019 - 3:05PM
Kura Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: KURA), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of precision
medicines for the treatment of cancer, today announced the
appointment of Kathleen Ford as Chief Operating Officer, effective
immediately. Ms. Ford replaces John Farnam, who is stepping down
from his position to pursue other interests.
“We are very fortunate to have recruited an operations veteran
with Kathy’s experience to Kura at a time when strategic
prioritization and operational execution are among our highest
priorities,” said Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., President and Chief
Executive Officer of Kura Oncology. “Kathy is recognized as a
transformational leader who has successfully built and managed
clinical operations organizations around the globe. She is a
strong, inspirational leader who can help ensure that all functions
are working together to accomplish our strategic goals. With three
wholly-owned, clinical-stage oncology drug candidates, and our
focus on execution across our development-stage pipeline, her
addition to our leadership team is well timed. And, while we
welcome Kathy, I would also like to thank John for his
contributions to Kura. He brought a level of rigor to our planning,
decision-making and communication that will continue to benefit the
company, and we wish him well in the future.”
Ms. Ford joins Kura with more than 30 years of biopharmaceutical
experience supporting pipeline development. She was most recently
Senior Vice President, Head of Global Clinical Operations, at Merck
Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, where she led clinical and
development operations toward successful drug registrations in both
the U.S. and Europe. Previously, she served in roles of increasing
responsibility at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Vice
President, Clinical Operations, where she led the global
operational management of clinical trial activities in all phases
of development. Prior to that, she served as Director of Clinical
Operations at Alkermes, where she managed the clinical development
for two product approvals. Ms. Ford earned her RN from
Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing and her BSN from
Fitchburg State College.
“I'm delighted to be joining Kura at such a critical stage in
the company’s evolution,” said Ms. Ford. “When considering the
opportunity, I was impressed by the team and its thoughtful
approach to precision medicine. With one registration-directed
study underway and the potential for greater depth and breadth
across the pipeline, I’m excited by the prospect of helping to
bring new treatments to cancer patients in need.”
About Kura Oncology
Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the
treatment of cancer. The Company’s pipeline consists of small
molecule drug candidates that target cancer signaling pathways
where there is a strong scientific and clinical rationale to
improve outcomes by identifying those patients most likely to
benefit from treatment. Kura’s lead drug candidate is tipifarnib, a
farnesyl transferase inhibitor, for which the Company is conducting
a registration-directed trial of tipifarnib in recurrent or
metastatic patients with HRAS mutant HNSCC. In addition, tipifarnib
is being evaluated in multiple other Phase 2 clinical trials in
solid tumor and hematologic indications. Kura’s pipeline also
includes KO-947, an ERK inhibitor, currently in a Phase 1
dose-escalation trial, and KO-539, a menin-MLL inhibitor, which is
anticipated to enter into a Phase 1 clinical trial shortly. For
additional information about Kura, please visit the Company’s
website at www.kuraoncology.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to be materially different from historical results or from
any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements include statements
regarding, among other things, Kura’s potential for greater depth
and breadth across its pipeline, Kura’s ability to bring new
treatments to cancer patients in need, and the progress and
expected timing of Kura’s drug development programs and clinical
trials. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially
include the risk that compounds that appeared promising in early
research or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or
efficacy in later preclinical studies or clinical trials, the risk
that Kura may not obtain approval to market its product candidates,
uncertainties associated with performing clinical trials,
regulatory filings and applications, risks associated with reliance
on third parties to successfully conduct clinical trials, the risks
associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital
requirements, and other risks associated with the process of
discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and
effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of
building a business around such drugs. You are urged to consider
statements that include the words "may," "will," "would," "could,"
"should," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "promise,"
"potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends,"
"continues," "designed," "goal," or the negative of those words or
other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. For a
further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the
Company faces, please refer to the Company's periodic and other
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are
available at www.sec.gov. Such forward-looking statements are
current only as of the date they are made, and Kura assumes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts
Company:Pete De SpainVice President, Investor Relations
&Corporate Communications(858)
500-8803pete@kuraoncology.com
Investors:Robert H. UhlManaging DirectorWestwicke Partners,
LLC(858) 356-5932robert.uhl@westwicke.com
Media:Jason SparkManaging DirectorCanale Communications(619)
849-6005jason@canalecomm.com
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