– USA, MA – FORMA Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Frank D. Lee as Chief Executive Officer, starting on March 27, 2019.
Frank succeeds Steve Tregay, Ph.D., who after more than a decade as Founder and CEO, will transition to the role of Senior Advisor to the CEO. Frank, an industry veteran and champion for patients, joins FORMA with over 25 years of global experience in product development and commercial leadership across a wide range of therapeutic areas within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Frank served as Senior Vice President, Global Product Strategy and Therapeutic Area Head for the Immunology, Ophthalmology and Infectious Diseases at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
“Steve and the Board collaborated to execute a thoughtful succession plan and I’m pleased to welcome Frank as FORMA’s next CEO. Frank’s passion for understanding the patient perspective, focused commitment to offer profoundly meaningful therapeutic solutions, and proven commercial leadership in building innovative product strategies will undoubtedly provide FORMA with the critical expertise to advance our pipeline toward commercialization,” said Peter Wirth, Chairman, Board of Directors, FORMA Therapeutics. “Throughout his career, Frank has proven to be an accomplished leader significantly impacting human health through building highly productive teams, fostering a patient-centric culture, and opening of new markets to advance ground-breaking medicines. With several candidates now in ongoing Phase I and Phase II studies, Frank has a tremendous opportunity to accelerate FORMA’s R&D activities to provide sustained impact.”
Peter Wirth added, “The FORMA Board of Directors extends deep gratitude to Steve for his contributions as founder and years of service as CEO and we wish him the best for his next endeavor. Steve’s entrepreneurial talent and interests reside in reinventing the way potential new drugs are identified, explored and developed, and he grew FORMA with disruptive innovation as part of its core DNA. During Steve’s time at FORMA, he championed the company’s evolution from a chemistry platform focused organization, toward a premiere research partner delivering high quality drug candidates, and recently to a fully integrated R&D company with a robust proprietary pipeline of clinical and preclinical assets in oncology, hematology and inflammatory diseases.”
“After leading the company for over 10 years, I believe now is the ideal time for a transition,” said Steve Tregay, Ph.D. “With an incoming CEO who has the ideal background to propel the pipeline towards commercialization and realize the company’s vision to change lives for patients, I am truly excited about FORMA’s future. I plan to work with the Board, Frank and FORMA’s leadership team to ensure a smooth transition and equally look forward to my next journey in continuing to transform the paradigm of drug discovery.” Steve is founder and Chairman of the Board of Compass Therapeutics and a founding Board member of LabCentral.
About Frank Lee
Frank’s thirteen-year career at Genentech included leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility for delivering transformative medicines to patients. Most recently, as Senior Vice President, Global Product Strategy, he was responsible for driving development and commercial strategy for a broad portfolio of molecules in development and for global in-line product sales of more than $11 Billion. Previously, as Vice President of the HER2/Breast Cancer Franchise, Frank was responsible for the US P&L for Herceptin®, Perjeta® and Kadcyla®, driving revenues over $4 Billion and launching the first HER2 neoadjuvant indication shaping a new market and treatment paradigm for early HER2 breast cancer patients. As Vice President of Oral Oncolytics, Frank held P&L responsibility for Tarceva®, Zelboraf®, Erivedge® and Xeloda®, advancing personalized medicine for cancer patients with EGFR+ NSCLC and BRAF+ melanoma, and establishing a new treatment option for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma. Other roles at Genentech included Franchise Head, Transplant and Tamiflu® as well as Director of Marketing for Ophthalmology and Respiratory. Prior to joining Genentech, Frank spent approximately 13 years across Novartis, Janssen and Eli Lilly in engineering, manufacturing, sales/marketing and business development.
“FORMA’s ten-year foundation of excellence in discovery research and development, the depth of scientific talent and mission driven culture, as well as the multiple potentially transformative medicines now in the clinic, provide a unique opportunity to dramatically improve the lives of patients with serious diseases,” said Frank D. Lee, incoming CEO, FORMA Therapeutics. “I’m excited to lead such a remarkable organization through the next growth phase including product approval and launch, while continuing to sustain an innovative pipeline for the long-term. It’s an honor to continue the legacy of building an innovative research company committed to patients, transformative science and company culture.”
Frank received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN., and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from the Wharton Graduate School of Business, Philadelphia, PA. He previously served on the Board of the Genentech Foundation.
About FORMA Therapeutics
FORMA Therapeutics’ scientists are passionate about discovering and developing medicines that will make a difference in oncology, inflammation, neurodegeneration and other serious diseases. The Company’s fully-integrated R&D team drives discovery and clinical development of therapeutics for qualified targets in the areas of epigenetics, protein homeostasis and metabolism. Leveraging a world class network of academic investigators, clinical experts and partners, FORMA combines deep biology insight, chemistry expertise and clinical development capabilities, to create drug candidates providing profound patient benefit. www.formatherapeutics.com
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