SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nurix Therapeutics, Inc., a company discovering drugs that harness the body’s natural process to control protein levels, today announced Lori A. Kunkel, M.D., and Julia Gregory have joined its board of directors. In addition, David Lacey, M.D., a current board director, has been appointed to chairman.
“Dr. Kunkel and Ms. Gregory are key additions to our board of directors and we are confident they will have a significant impact on the strategic development of the company,” said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of Nurix. “Their combined drug development, commercialization and financial experience in the biotechnology industry will be extraordinarily valuable to Nurix as we advance our pipeline into the clinic next year. We also congratulate Dr. Lacey, who has helped guide the significant growth of our company over the past several years, on his new role as chairman.”
Dr. Kunkel said, “This is a promising time for the development of new drugs in the field of protein homeostasis and targeted protein degradation. The efforts of the Nurix organization have yielded novel candidate therapeutics for oncology and I look forward to working with the outstanding Nurix board and management team as we move into the clinic.”
Dr. Kunkel holds more than 20 years of experience in oncology and immunology drug development. She joins Nurix Therapeutics after serving on the board of directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc. until the sale to Eli Lilly. She currently serves on the board of directors of Curis, Inc., Maverick Therapeutics, Inc., and Tocagen, Inc. She previously held positions of acting chief medical officer at Loxo Oncology, chief medical officer at Pharmacyclics, LLC, ACT, Syndax and Proteolix, Inc. as well as in senior clinical roles at Chiron, and Genentech, Inc. Prior to her career in biotechnology, Dr. Kunkel spent approximately 10 years in academic medicine and served as a faculty member at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at University of California, Los Angeles. She has held board certifications in hematology and oncology and holds a B.A. in biology from the University of California, San Diego and an M.D. from the University of Southern California.
“I look forward to working again with Arthur, his talented team and experienced board members to advance Nurix’s cutting edge technologies that develop therapeutics which target E3 ligases for unmet medical needs,” said Ms. Gregory. “I am enthusiastic to share my expertise in financing and business development to build additional value and to help them bring forward a growing pipeline of Nurix oncology therapies which have the potential to improve the lives of patients with cancer.”
Ms. Gregory formerly served as president and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, CEO of ContraFect Corporation and as executive vice president, corporate development and CFO of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Gregory currently serves as chair and CEO of biotechnology financial and management advisory firm, Isometry Advisors, Inc. and senior advisor to M.M. Dillon & Co., Inc. Ms. Gregory also has twenty years of investment banking experience, starting at Dillon, Read & Co. and subsequently at Punk, Ziegel & Company, where she served as the head of investment banking and head of its life sciences practice. Ms. Gregory has recently served as executive chair of Cavion, Inc. until its sale to Jazz Pharmaceuticals and also serves on the Board of Directors at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Cell Medica, Iconic Therapeutics, IMV, Inc. and the Sosei Group Corporation. Ms. Gregory obtained an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and earned her B.A. in International Affairs and International Economics at the George Washington University.
About Nurix Therapeutics
Nurix Therapeutics discovers drugs that harness the body’s natural process to control protein levels. Nurix’s pipeline is focused on developing drugs as treatments for hematologic cancers and immune-mediated diseases including immuno-oncology therapeutics for cancer. Nurix was founded by internationally recognized experts in E3 ligase biology and immunology and is funded by leading life science investors Third Rock Ventures and The Column Group. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit http://www.nurixtx.com.
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