Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Announces the Appointment of Dr. Kimberly Blackwell to its Board of Directors


NEW YORK and SAN DIEGO, July 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancers, today announced the appointment of Kimberly Blackwell, M.D. to its Board of Directors. Dr. Blackwell is a renowned breast cancer researcher who has made significant contributions to the biopharmaceutical industry for more than two decades. 

“We are delighted to welcome Kim, a biopharma veteran with extensive experience in oncology research, to our Board of Directors,” said Dr. Anthony Sun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. “Throughout her career, she has led numerous clinical programs, mainly in breast cancer, that have resulted in successful regulatory approvals. This impressive background will be vital in helping us bring potentially life changing treatments to patients with a range of cancers.”

Dr. Blackwell is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Tempus, a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Prior to Tempus, she was Vice President of Early Phase Oncology and Immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly, where she led the clinical development teams in advancing early stage therapeutics. Throughout her 24 year tenure at Duke Cancer Institute, Dr. Blackwell directed the Women’s Cancer Program, Strategic Collaborations, and the Precision Medicine Initiative. In addition, she has served as the principal or co-principal investigator on over 50 cancer clinical trials. Dr. Blackwell’s innovative work in developing non-chemotherapy based approaches for the treatment of breast cancer led to her inclusion on TIME magazine’s 2013 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She received her undergraduate degree in bioethics from Duke University and holds an M.D. from Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.

“As a previous member of the Scientific Advisory Board, I am honored by the opportunity to expand my role at Zentalis,” said Dr. Kimberly Blackwell. “I look forward to continuing to assist the Zentalis team and its distinguished Board of Directors in building and evolving its potentially best-in-class oncology pipeline, with the goal of making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.”

About Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancers. The Company is developing a broad pipeline of potentially best-in-class oncology candidates, including ZN-c5, an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) for ER+/HER2- breast cancer, ZN-c3, a WEE1 inhibitor, ZN-d5, a BCL-2 inhibitor and ZN-e4, an EGFR inhibitor. Zentalis has operations in both New York and San Diego.

For more information, please visit www.zentalis.com. Follow Zentalis on social media: @ZentalisP and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations surrounding the development, commercialization, potential, safety, efficacy, and regulatory and clinical progress of our product candidates. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has adversely impacted and may continue to adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials; our limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability; we have and expect to continue to incur significant losses; our need for additional funding, which may not be available; our substantial dependence on the success of our lead product candidate; failure to identify additional product candidates and develop or commercialize marketable products; the early stage of our development efforts; potential unforeseen events during clinical trials could cause delays or other adverse consequences; risks relating to the regulatory approval process or ongoing regulatory obligations; failure to obtain U.S. or international marketing approval; our product candidates may cause serious adverse side effects; inability to maintain our collaborations, or the failure of these collaborations; our reliance on third parties; effects of significant competition; the possibility of system failures or security breaches; risks relating to intellectual property; our ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel; and significant costs as a result of operating as a public company. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2020 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other filings with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.

Investor Contact:

Thomas Hoffmann

Solebury Trout

1.646.378.2931

thoffmann@soleburytrout.com

Media Contact:

Julia Deutsch

Solebury Trout

1.646.378.2967

jdeutsch@soleburytrout.com