Mirati Therapeutics Appoints Chris LeMasters To Role Of Executive Vice President And Chief Business Officer

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX) today announced the appointment of Chris LeMasters to the newly created position of Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, effective September 30, 2016.

"Chris' extensive experience in successfully driving corporate development and strategy at clinical stage biotech companies will make a significant contribution to our success," said Charles M. Baum, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Mirati. "His proven ability to drive growth of organizations like ours will build on our existing oncology development expertise and help ensure that we successfully develop our three clinical stage programs."

Prior to joining Mirati, Mr. LeMasters served as the CEO of Promosome, a privately held biotherapeutics and biosimilars company.  Previously, Mr. LeMasters held senior management positions at several biotherapeutics companies, most recently as co-founder and chief business officer of Tragara Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage cancer therapeutics company.  Mr. LeMasters also served as co-founder and chief business officer of Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he negotiated its acquisition by Pharmion Corporation for $104 million, and as vice president, corporate development of Conforma Therapeutics, where he negotiated its acquisition by Biogen IDEC for $250 million.  Mr. LeMasters also worked in the corporate business development group at Eli Lilly & Company and was responsible for the successful negotiation of numerous partnerships and licenses across a range of therapeutic areas.  Earlier in his career, he was a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and an operational auditor with Owens Corning.

Mr. LeMasters currently serves as a board member of Aarden Pharmaceuticals, where he is also a co-founder, and as a board member of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network, a clinical research organization.

In connection with his employment, the Compensation Committee of Mirati's Board of Directors granted an inducement award to Mr. LeMasters. The inducement award was granted under Mirati's 2013 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and consists of a stock option to purchase up to 120,000 shares of the Company's common stock, with a per share exercise price equal to the closing price of the Common Stock on the grant date of October 3, 2016. The inducement award will vest over four years, with 25% of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the date of grant and 1/48th of the underlying shares vesting monthly thereafter over 36 months.  The Compensation Committee of Mirati's Board of Directors approved the award on September 14, 2016 as an inducement material to Mr. LeMasters employment in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

About Mirati Therapeutics
Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a pipeline of targeted oncology products intended to treat specific genetic and epigenetic drivers of cancer in selected subsets of cancer patients with unmet needs. Our clinical pipeline consists of three product candidates: glesatinib, sitravatinib and mocetinostat. Both glesatinib and sitravatinib are orally bio-available, spectrum-selective kinase inhibitors with distinct target profiles that are in development for the treatment of patients with NSCLC and other solid tumors. Glesatinib is in Phase 2 clinical development, and targets the MET and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase families. Sitravatinib is in Phase 1b clinical development and targets genetic alterations in the RET rearrangements, CHR4q12 amplifications, and CBL mutations. Our third product candidate is mocetinostat, an orally bio-available, Class 1 selective histone deacetylase inhibitor. Mocetinostat is in Phase 2 clinical development in combination with durvalumab, MedImmune's anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with NSCLC. More information is available at www.mirati.com.

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