-- Experienced communications professional Susan Hubbard joins
as Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Investor Relations --
-- Oncology business development executive Stefan Krauss joins as
Vice President of Business Development --
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 2016--
Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) today announced two high-level appointments
designed to further strengthen the company’s public affairs and business
development capabilities following the launch of its newest medicine,
CABOMETYX™, earlier this year. Susan Hubbard has joined the company as
Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Investor Relations, and
Stefan Krauss, Ph.D. has joined as Vice President of Business
Development.
“The regulatory approval and launch of CABOMETYX earlier this year has
provided a strong foundation for the next phase of Exelixis’ growth,”
said Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
at Exelixis. “In welcoming Susan and Stefan to Exelixis, we are
positioning the company for a transformational period, and we are
confident that their unique expertise will strengthen our ability to
advance the company as it continues to evolve.”
As EVP of Public Affairs and Investor Relations, Susan Hubbard will
oversee the company’s public affairs, advocacy and investor relations
functions as a member of the company’s executive leadership team. Prior
to joining Exelixis in a full-time capacity, Ms. Hubbard served as an
independent public affairs and investor relations consultant to the
biopharmaceutical industry. From 2014 onward, she was instrumental in
developing Exelixis’ communications strategy around the late-stage
clinical development, approval and commercial launch of CABOMETYX, as
well as several major milestones for the company’s partnered programs.
Previously, as one of the initial employees at Gilead Sciences she spent
over two decades in roles of increasing responsibility, finishing her
tenure as Vice President of Investor Relations. She received her
undergraduate degree from University of California, Los Angeles.
As Vice President of Business Development, Stefan Krauss, Ph.D. will
lead Exelixis’ business development activities and its ongoing
partnering and in-licensing initiatives as the company seeks to expand
its pipeline of oncology therapeutics. Before joining Exelixis, from
2014 to 2016 Dr. Krauss served as a Senior Director of Business
Development and Licensing at Baxalta (formerly Baxter Bioscience). At
Baxalta, he led oncology business development for the company’s
newly-formed Oncology Division and was instrumental in adding
transformational and innovative partnerships to the company’s rapidly
growing oncology portfolio. Prior to that, from 2011 to 2014 Dr. Krauss
served as Director of Search and Evaluation Oncology in the Global
Business Development unit of EMD Serono, where he identified and
evaluated strategic oncology and immuno-oncology in-licensing
opportunities for the company. Previously, Dr. Krauss held positions of
increasing responsibility at Merck Research Laboratories as a senior
scientist and team leader as well as in scientific business development,
most recently as a Senior Manager and Research Fellow, Global External
Basic Research (Oncology). Before entering the pharmaceutical industry,
Dr. Krauss was a Research Fellow in Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. He holds both M.Phil. and
Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge (UK).
The new appointments underscore the company’s growth trajectory and will
further Exelixis’ efforts in addressing increased interest from media,
investors and potential partners.
About Exelixis
Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) is a biopharmaceutical company committed
to the discovery, development and commercialization of new medicines
with the potential to improve care and outcomes for people with cancer.
Since its founding in 1994, three medicines discovered at Exelixis have
progressed through clinical development to receive regulatory approval.
Currently, Exelixis is focused on advancing cabozantinib, an inhibitor
of multiple tyrosine kinases including MET, AXL and VEGF receptors,
which has shown clinical anti-tumor activity in more than 20 forms of
cancer and is the subject of a broad clinical development program. Two
separate formulations of cabozantinib have received regulatory approval
to treat certain forms of kidney and thyroid cancer and are marketed for
those purposes as CABOMETYX™ tablets (U.S. and EU) and COMETRIQ®
capsules (U.S. and EU), respectively. Another Exelixis-discovered
compound, COTELLIC® (cobimetinib), a selective inhibitor of
MEK, has been approved in major territories including the United States
and European Union, and is being evaluated for further potential
indications by Roche and Genentech (a member of the Roche Group) under a
collaboration with Exelixis. For more information on Exelixis, please
visit www.exelixis.com
or follow @ExelixisInc on Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including,
without limitation, statements related to: the impact of the two
high-level appointments on the strength of Exelixis’ public affairs and
business development capabilities, and the ability to advance the
company as it continues to evolve; the next phase of Exelixis’ growth;
Exelixis’ plans to seek to expand its pipeline of oncology therapeutics;
Exelixis’ growth trajectory; Exelixis' commitment to the discovery,
development and commercialization of new medicines with the potential to
improve care and outcomes for people with cancer; Exelixis’ focus on
advancing cabozantinib; and the continued development of cobimetinib.
Words such as “further,” “next,” “will,” “continue,” “committed,”
“focused,” “potential,” or other similar expressions identify
forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not
necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. In addition,
any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other
characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon Exelixis’
current plans, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, estimates and
projections. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from
those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of these
risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: Exelixis’
ability to successfully address increasing interest from media,
investors and potential partners; Exelixis’ ability to enter into future
collaborations on acceptable terms; the risk that unanticipated
developments could adversely affect the commercialization of CABOMETYX
or COMETRIQ; Exelixis’ ability to conduct clinical trials of
cabozantinib sufficient to achieve a positive completion and risks
related to the potential failure of cabozantinib to demonstrate safety
and efficacy in clinical testing; Exelixis’ dependence on its
relationship with Ipsen, including, the level of Ipsen’s investment in
the resources necessary to successfully commercialize cabozantinib in
the territories where it is approved; Exelixis’ dependence on its
relationship with Genentech/Roche with respect to cobimetinib and
Exelixis’ ability to maintain its rights under the collaboration;
Exelixis’ dependence on third-party vendors; Exelixis’ ability to
protect the company’s intellectual property rights; market competition;
changes in economic and business conditions, and other factors discussed
under the caption “Risk Factors” in Exelixis’ quarterly report on Form
10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November
3, 2016, and in Exelixis’ future filings with the SEC. The
forward-looking statements made in this press release speak only as of
the date of this press release. Exelixis expressly disclaims any duty,
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions
to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change
in Exelixis’ expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.
Exelixis, the Exelixis logo, COMETRIQ and COTELLIC are registered
U.S. trademarks, and CABOMETYX is a U.S. trademark.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161207005614/en/
Source: Exelixis, Inc.
Exelixis, Inc.
Lindsay Treadway, 650-837-7522
Public Affairs
and Advocacy Relations
ltreadway@exelixis.com
or
For
Exelixis, Inc.
Hal Mackins, 415-994-0040
hal@torchcomllc.com
