- Dr. Jeffrey Smith named Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
- Dr. John Fann promoted to Senior VP, Process Sciences
- Seven new Vice Presidents appointed, underscoring commitment to leadership development
VANCOUVER - Jan. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zymeworks Inc. (Nasdaq: ZYME), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a diverse pipeline of novel, multifunctional biotherapeutics to improve the standard of care for difficult-to-treat diseases, today announced significant additions to its leadership team. These additions to the leadership team highlight Zymeworks' commitment to nurturing and advancing internal talent to key leadership roles while strengthening the capabilities and experience of the organization.
"At Zymeworks, we recognize that our greatest asset is our people. Elevating talented individuals is a reflection of their strong performance for the company, our confidence in their abilities and the emphasis we place on cultivating leaders from within. As we continue to grow, their expanded roles will play crucial parts in advancing our ‘5 by 5’ development programs into the clinic in 2024 and 2025, planning to develop our ADVANCE preclinical programs into clinical studies by 2027 and helping to form the necessary collaborations and partnerships for our emerging product portfolio,” said Kenneth Galbraith, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Zymeworks.
Leadership Team
Dr. Jeffrey Smith has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, where he will play a key role in leading the clinical development of our early-stage programs and overseeing our integrated global early-stage development group.
Dr. John Fann has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Process Sciences, where he will continue to play a key role in supporting the advancement of our new product candidates from preclinical studies into clinical trials.
In addition, the following individuals have been appointed to the leadership team:
- Raquera Brown, Vice President, Quality
- Bijal Desai, Vice President, Finance & Strategy
- Lucas Donigian, Vice President, Business & Commercial Development
- Dr. Lindsey Foulkes, Vice President, Corporate Development
- Cathie Graham, Vice President, Legal
- Laura O’Connor, Vice President, Human Resources & DEI
- Dr. Joe Woolery, Vice President, Early-Stage Development (Americas)
“These outstanding individuals have consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership abilities, commitment, and a deep understanding of our business objectives and our commitment to patients,” Mr. Galbraith added. “After reducing the management team to a small core group upon my appointment in early 2022, these new appointments reflect the additional management resources necessary to manage and advance our emerging product portfolio.”
About Zymeworks Inc.
Zymeworks is a global biotechnology company committed to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel, multifunctional biotherapeutics. Zymeworks’ mission is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people impacted by difficult-to-treat cancers and other diseases. The Company’s complementary therapeutic platforms and fully integrated drug development engine provide the flexibility and compatibility to precisely engineer and develop highly differentiated antibody-based therapeutic candidates. Zymeworks engineered and developed zanidatamab, a HER2-targeted bispecific antibody using the Company’s proprietary Azymetric™ technology.
Zymeworks has entered into separate agreements with BeiGene, Ltd. (BeiGene) and Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited (Jazz), granting each exclusive rights to develop and commercialize zanidatamab in different territories. Zanidatamab is currently being evaluated in multiple global clinical trials as a potential best-in-class treatment for patients with HER2-expressing cancers. Zymeworks is rapidly advancing a deep pipeline of product candidates based on its experience and capabilities in both antibody drug conjugates and multispecific antibody therapeutics across multiple novel targets in indications that represent areas of significant unmet medical need. In addition to Zymeworks’ wholly-owned pipeline, its therapeutic platforms have been further leveraged through strategic partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies.
