SAN DIEGO, Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirati
Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX) today announced the appointment
of Chris LeMasters to the newly
created position of Executive Vice President and Chief Business
Officer, effective September 30,
2016.
"Chris' extensive experience in successfully driving corporate
development and strategy at clinical stage biotech companies will
make a significant contribution to our success," said Charles M. Baum, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO
of Mirati. "His proven ability to drive growth of organizations
like ours will build on our existing oncology development expertise
and help ensure that we successfully develop our three clinical
stage programs."
Prior to joining Mirati, Mr. LeMasters served as the CEO of
Promosome, a privately held biotherapeutics and biosimilars
company. Previously, Mr. LeMasters held senior management
positions at several biotherapeutics companies, most recently as
co-founder and chief business officer of Tragara Pharmaceuticals, a
clinical-stage cancer therapeutics company. Mr. LeMasters
also served as co-founder and chief business officer of Cabrellis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he negotiated its acquisition by
Pharmion Corporation for $104
million, and as vice president, corporate development of
Conforma Therapeutics, where he negotiated its acquisition by
Biogen IDEC for $250 million.
Mr. LeMasters also worked in the corporate business development
group at Eli Lilly & Company and was responsible for the
successful negotiation of numerous partnerships and licenses across
a range of therapeutic areas. Earlier in his career, he was a
management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and an
operational auditor with Owens Corning.
Mr. LeMasters currently serves as a board member of Aarden
Pharmaceuticals, where he is also a co-founder, and as a board
member of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network, a clinical research
organization.
In connection with his employment, the Compensation Committee of
Mirati's Board of Directors granted an inducement award to Mr.
LeMasters. The inducement award was granted under Mirati's 2013
Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and consists of a stock option
to purchase up to 120,000 shares of the Company's common stock,
with a per share exercise price equal to the closing price of the
Common Stock on the grant date of October 3,
2016. The inducement award will vest over four years, with
25% of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of
the date of grant and 1/48th of the underlying shares vesting
monthly thereafter over 36 months. The Compensation Committee
of Mirati's Board of Directors approved the award on September 14, 2016 as an inducement material to
Mr. LeMasters employment in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule
5635(c)(4).
About Mirati Therapeutics
Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. is
a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a
pipeline of targeted oncology products intended to treat specific
genetic and epigenetic drivers of cancer in selected subsets of
cancer patients with unmet needs. Our clinical pipeline consists of
three product candidates: glesatinib, sitravatinib and
mocetinostat. Both glesatinib and sitravatinib are orally
bio-available, spectrum-selective kinase inhibitors with distinct
target profiles that are in development for the treatment of
patients with NSCLC and other solid tumors. Glesatinib is in Phase
2 clinical development, and targets the MET and Axl receptor
tyrosine kinase families. Sitravatinib is in Phase 1b clinical
development and targets genetic alterations in the RET
rearrangements, CHR4q12 amplifications, and CBL mutations. Our
third product candidate is mocetinostat, an orally bio-available,
Class 1 selective histone deacetylase inhibitor. Mocetinostat is in
Phase 2 clinical development in combination with durvalumab,
MedImmune's anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, for the
treatment of patients with NSCLC. More information is available at
www.mirati.com.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/341355LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mirati-therapeutics-appoints-chris-lemasters-to-role-of-executive-vice-president-and-chief-business-officer-300338213.html
SOURCE Mirati Therapeutics, Inc.