David L. Lacey steps down from chair role and will remain board member and retain committee leadership roles
Current board member Julia P. Gregory unanimously elected new board chair
SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: NRIX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted protein modulation drugs designed to treat patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced that the chair of its board of directors, David L. Lacey, M.D., stepped down as board chair at the conclusion of today’s annual meeting of stockholders. The board of directors has unanimously elected board member Julia P. Gregory as its new board chair.
Dr. Lacey, who has served on the Nurix board since 2016, and as board chair since 2019, will remain on the board and will continue to serve as chair of its Compensation Committee and as a member of its Development Advisory Committee.
“Nurix is extremely fortunate to have benefited from David’s exceptional guidance as chair over the last five years. His scientific and medical insight has been instrumental in our growth from a private, ligase research company to a public, drug discovery and development company with three innovative programs in clinical development and many drug discovery programs with our collaborators, Gilead, Sanofi and Pfizer,” said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., Nurix’s president and chief executive officer. “We are excited to have Julia as our new board chair. Her passion, extensive experience and strategic vision will be invaluable as we accelerate development of our drug programs towards regulatory approval and commercialization with the goal of delivering life changing drugs for patients.”
“I have been so incredibly impressed with how Nurix has evolved over my tenure as chair. We have literally turned our scientific theories into drugs that are showing great promise for patients in our clinical trials,” said Dr. Lacey. “As a member of the board, I look forward to continuing to provide my full support to Arthur and his terrific management team, to the full board, and to our dynamic new chair whose expertise is perfect to lead the board through the next phase of Nurix’s growth. It is indeed with great confidence that I pass the gavel to Julia.”
“I am honored to serve as chair of Nurix’s board and know that I have big shoes to fill,” said Ms. Gregory. “David has been an outstanding board chair and on behalf of the board, I thank him for his leadership. I look forward to continuing to work with David, Arthur, our board colleagues, and Nurix’s management team as we build on our momentum to deliver a new generation of breakthrough drugs for patients.”
Ms. Gregory joined the Nurix board in 2019 and currently serves as the chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Ms. Gregory is currently Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Isometry Advisors, Inc., a biotechnology financial, strategy, and management advisory firm. Ms. Gregory formerly served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of ContraFect Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutics for drug resistant infectious diseases. Prior to her appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Gregory served as ContraFect’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in her career, Ms. Gregory served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., and as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In addition, Ms. Gregory has twenty years of investment banking experience, including at Dillon, Read & Co. and at Punk, Ziegel & Company, where she served as the head of investment banking and head of its life sciences practice. Ms. Gregory currently serves on the board of directors of Biohaven Ltd. Ms. Gregory holds a B.A. from George Washington University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
About Nurix
Nurix Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative small molecules and antibody therapies based on the modulation of cellular protein levels as a novel treatment approach for cancer, inflammatory conditions, and other challenging diseases. Leveraging extensive expertise in E3 ligases together with proprietary DNA-encoded libraries, Nurix has built DELigase, an integrated discovery platform, to identify and advance novel drug candidates targeting E3 ligases, a broad class of enzymes that can modulate proteins within the cell. Nurix’s drug discovery approach is to either harness or inhibit the natural function of E3 ligases within the ubiquitin-proteasome system to selectively decrease or increase cellular protein levels. Nurix’s wholly owned, clinical stage pipeline includes targeted protein degraders of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a B-cell signaling protein, and inhibitors of Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proto-oncogene B, an E3 ligase that regulates activation of multiple immune cell types including T cell and NK cells. Nurix is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For additional information visit http://www.nurixtx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Any statements contained herein that do not describe historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Nurix’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended February 29, 2024, and subsequent filings with the SEC. Any of these risks and uncertainties could materially and adversely affect Nurix’s business and results of operations, which could, in turn, have a significant and adverse impact on Nurix’s stock price. Nurix cautions you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Nurix undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they were made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts:
Investors
Jason Kantor, Ph.D.
Nurix Therapeutics
ir@nurixtx.com
Elizabeth Wolffe, Ph.D.
Wheelhouse Life Science Advisors
lwolffe@wheelhouselsa.com
Media
Aljanae Reynolds
Wheelhouse Life Science Advisors
areynolds@wheelhouselsa.com
