Alterome Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of next-generation, small molecule targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced the appointment of Jung Choi as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Richard Heyman, Ph.D., as Chair of the Board of Directors.
Ms. Choi brings significant experience in growing companies from privately held, preclinical to publicly traded, commercial-stage organizations. Dr. Heyman is a scientist and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in co-founding and building biotech and life science companies.
“Jung’s deep experience in building innovative portfolios and effectively scaling organizations will be invaluable to Alterome as we advance our two clinical-stage precision oncology programs from early clinical development towards commercialization. We are thrilled to welcome Jung to lead our next phase of growth and Rich to an expanded role as Chair. He has been instrumental in advising the company from our discovery phase to clinical development, and we look forward to his continued guidance,” said Melissa McCracken, Partner at Nextech Ventures and member of the Board of Directors at Alterome Therapeutics. “The company thanks co-founder and former CEO Eric Murphy for his contributions to Alterome, and we are grateful for his service and leadership.”
“I am honored to join the Alterome team at this important phase, as we work to advance two potential best-in-class and first-in-class treatment options for cancer patients and maximize the impact of our entire portfolio,” said Ms. Choi. “My career has been driven by a passion to make transformative changes in people’s lives by delivering the best medicines science can create, and I see a great opportunity to bring this passion to life with the team at Alterome.”
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Ms. Choi is an expert in strategic deal making, having led or managed more than 50 transactions exceeding $17 billion in value. Her leadership experience includes serving most recently as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures. Previously, she was Chief Business & Strategy Officer at Global Blood Therapeutics, where she was instrumental in building the company from preclinical stage to commercialization, establishing a portfolio of therapeutic hematology candidates, and leading the company’s $5.4 billion acquisition by Pfizer. She previously served as head of corporate development at InterMune (acquired by Roche), Chimerix, and Gilead Sciences, and began her career at Bay City Capital and McKinsey. She currently serves on the Boards of Annexon Biosciences and New York Blood Center.
Dr. Heyman takes the role of Chair of the Board of Directors after serving as a senior advisor to the company since 2022 and has more than 25 years of experience building oncology companies. Most recently, he served as Chair of Vividion Therapeutics, Rayze Bio and Amunix Pharma. Previously, Heyman was the Co-Founder and CEO of Aragon and Seragon Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson purchased Aragon in 2013, and Genentech purchased Seragon one year later. Dr. Heyman is the Co-Founder and Chair of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, a Venture Partner for Arch Ventures, and a Science Partner at Nextech Invest. He is also Chair of PMV Pharma and Enliven Therapeutics.
“I have had the privilege of experiencing up close Alterome’s progress since the inception of the company, as the team advanced from concept to discovery to clinical development in record time,” said Dr. Heyman. “The collective experience and unwavering focus at Alterome, along with the strong support of investors, has enabled the development of two extremely promising clinical candidates with the potential to make a significant impact on the oncology therapeutic landscape.”
Source: Businesswire