LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 27, 2015--
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ:SNTA) announced today that Chen
Schor, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, has been named
President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company,
effective May 7, 2015. Mr. Schor replaces Anne Whitaker, who is stepping
down from her roles at Synta to pursue a professional opportunity at a
large multinational pharmaceutical company.
“We appreciate Anne’s contributions to Synta during her tenure here,
including her work in streamlining the organization and prioritizing its
rich pipeline opportunities,” said Keith Gollust, Chairman of Synta.
“We understand her rationale for leaving Synta was due to both personal
and professional goals. This new leadership opportunity allows her to be
located closer to her family. We wish her the best in her future
endeavors.”
Mr. Gollust added: “Thanks to a deep management team at Synta, the
Company remains well positioned to continue executing our broad
ganetespib development program, including the GALAXY-2 Phase 3 study in
non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma, and advancing our HDC pipeline
toward the clinic. Chen has been an integral part of this team for
several months, and the Board is confident that his background and
expertise are ideally suited for guiding the Company through this
exciting period.”
“With multiple large, randomized investigator- and company-sponsored
ganetespib studies ongoing, a promising profile emerging from our lead
HDC pipeline assets and the capital to reach several important
milestones, Synta holds the potential to realize significant value for
our shareholders in the near-term,” said Mr. Schor. “I look forward to
working with the Board and our talented management team to help realize
this value.”
Mr. Schor joined Synta as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer in December 2014. Mr. Schor has over 15 years of leadership
experience in biotechnology, medical devices, business development and
private equity. Mr. Schor served as Vice President, Global Branded
Products Business Development and Pipeline Management at Teva
Pharmaceuticals and in leadership positions at several emerging private
and public companies. During his career, Mr. Schor has led licensing and
M&A transactions valued at over $8 billion with partners that include
GSK, Amgen, Pfizer, Merck KGaA and OncoGeneX, among others. Mr. Schor
was a Partner at Yozma Venture Capital, where he led the foundation and
growth of multiple therapeutic companies from inception to significant
commercial success and exit. Mr. Schor holds a Master in Business
Administration, a B.A. in Biology, a B.A. in Economics and is a
Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
About Synta Pharmaceuticals
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. is an innovative, agile biopharmaceutical
company focused on research, development and commercialization of novel
oncology medicines that have the potential to change the lives of cancer
patients. Synta’s lead oncology drug candidate, ganetespib, a novel heat
shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor, is currently being evaluated in
several clinical trials including the pivotal GALAXY-2 Phase 3 trial in
non-small cell lung cancer. Building on its extensive expertise in the
science of Hsp90, Synta also has a novel proprietary Hsp90 inhibitor
Drug Conjugate (HDC) small molecule drug development program. IND
enabling studies have commenced for the first clinical candidate from
the HDC program, STA-12-8666, and preclinical evaluation of additional
HDC candidates is ongoing. For more information, please visit www.syntapharma.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This media release may contain forward-looking statements about Synta
Pharmaceuticals Corp. Such forward-looking statements can be identified
by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will", "would",
"should", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes",
"may", "estimates", "predicts", "projects", or similar expressions
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements,
including statements relating to Synta’s potential to realize
significant value for our shareholders in the near-term, reflect Synta’s
current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions
and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements, including those described in "Risk Factors"
of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 as filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Synta undertakes no obligation to
publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Source: Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Investors:
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Daniel Cole,
781-541-7250
dcole@syntapharma.com
or
Argot
Partners
Andrea Rabney, 212-600-1494
andrea@argotpartners.com
or
Media:
Argot
Partners
Eliza Schleifstein, 917-763-8106
eliza@argotpartners.com