FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rain Therapeutics Inc., a privately-held, clinical stage biotechnology company focused on biomarker-driven, small molecule therapeutics for patients with cancer, announces the addition of Lori Kunkel, M.D., to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Kunkel is a clinical drug development specialist and strategic advisor to targeted and immuno-oncology biotechnology companies with over twenty years of experience in the oncology space.
“We are excited and privileged to have Dr. Kunkel’s help as part of our scientific advisory board,” said Avanish Vellanki, chief executive officer of Rain Therapeutics. “Dr. Kunkel’s decades of experience in clinical oncology drug development will be invaluable as we continue to advance our lead asset, tarloxotinib, and expand our pipeline with additional targeted therapies.”
Dr. Kunkel currently serves on the board of directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc., Curis, Inc., Maverick Therapeutics, Inc.,and Tocagen, Inc. Previously she has served as acting chief medical officer of Loxo Oncology, Inc., chief medical officer of Pharmacyclics, LLC, and Proteolix, Inc. and vice president of clinical development at Xencor, Inc. Earlier in her career she was a clinical scientist at Genentech, where she worked on the development of RITUXAN ®.
“Dr. Kunkel’s approach to drug development is very similar to ours, and Rain will undoubtedly benefit from her perspectives across the various initiatives ongoing at the Company,” said Robert Doebele, M.D., Ph.D., Rain’s co-founder and chairperson of the scientific advisory board.
Prior to her career in biotechnology, Dr. Kunkel spent a decade in academic medicine as a faculty member at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at University of California, Los Angeles. She received her medical degree from University of Southern California and her bachelor’s degree in biology from University of California, San Diego. She is board certified in internal medicine and has held board certifications in hematology and oncology.
About Rain Therapeutics Inc.
Rain Therapeutics Inc. is a privately-held biotechnology company developing biomarker-driven small molecule therapeutics for patients with cancer. Rain’s lead program, Tarloxotinib, is a hypoxia-activated prodrug of a potent HER inhibitor in development as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer patients with Exon 20 insertion mutations. Rain Therapeutics Inc. has worldwide development and commercialization rights for Tarloxotinib through an exclusive license from the University of Auckland. For more information, visit www.rainthera.com
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