BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–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.
