HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aravive Biologics today announced the appointment of Stephen L. Eck, M.D., Ph.D. as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Eck was formerly Vice President of Oncology Medical Sciences at Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. Ray Tabibiazar, M.D., founding President and CEO of Aravive, remains as Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors.
“Stephen has an impressive track-record of oncology drug and biomarker development at prominent pharmaceutical companies, as well as a close relationship to Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as a member of the Advisory Board for their oncology Moonshot Program,” said Dr. Tabibiazar. “We welcome his expertise and leadership to the Aravive team as we prepare to advance our lead drug candidate, Aravive-S6, into human clinical testing in 2018.”
“I am very excited to be joining Aravive at this point in the company’s development,” said Dr. Eck. “Aravive-S6 is a novel and promising agent that has shown in preclinical trials the potential to improve the treatment of cancer in combination with a wide range of other approaches, including chemotherapeutic drugs, radiation, PARP inhibitors and checkpoint inhibitors. I look forward to helping Aravive realize the full potential that I believe Gas6/AXL inhibition can bring to the treatment of cancer.”
Prior to joining Astellas Pharma, Stephen Eck served as Vice President, Translational Medicine & Pharmacogenomics at Eli Lilly and Company, where his group developed the biomarkers and companion diagnostics needed for study-specific decision making and for tailoring biotherapeutics to unique patient populations. Prior to joining Lilly, he served in a variety of oncology and neuroscience drug development leadership roles at Pfizer, Inc. Dr. Eck is a board-certified hematologist, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University and received his M.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He serves on the Board of Directors of Luminex Corporation, a Texas-based life sciences company, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.
About Aravive Biologics, Inc.
Aravive Biologics is a privately held, late pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, highly selective cancer therapies that treat serious malignancies while sparing normal healthy cells. The company’s lead program is focused on the GAS6/AXL pathway, where activation appears to play a critical role in multiple types of cancer malignancies by promoting tumor metastasis and cell survival. Aravive Biologics has generated strong preclinical data for its lead drug candidate, Aravive-S6, in both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and solid tumors including ovarian, pancreatic, and breast cancers. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and receives support from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). For more information, please visit our website at http://www.aravive.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding the expected contribution of Dr. Eck, and Aravive-S6’s potential to improve the treatment of cancer in combination with a wide range of other approaches, including chemotherapeutic drugs, radiation, PARP inhibitors and checkpoint inhibitors. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and factors that are beyond Aravive Biologics’ control including the ability to successfully integrate Dr. Eck into the Aravive management, and the ability of Aravive-S6 to treat cancer, the ability of Aravive-S6 to demonstrate safety and efficacy, as well as clinical results that are consistent with prior in vitro results, the ability to enroll patients and complete the clinical trials on time and achieve desired results and benefits, the company’s ability to obtain regulatory approvals for commercialization of product candidates or to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements, regulatory limitations relating to the company’s ability to promote or commercialize its product candidates for specific indications, acceptance of its product candidates in the marketplace and the successful development, marketing or sale of products, the company’s ability to maintain its license agreements, the continued maintenance and growth of its patent estate, its ability to establish and maintain collaborations, its ability to obtain or maintain the capital or grants necessary to fund its research and development activities, and its ability to retain its key scientists or management personnel. All forward-looking statements are based on Aravive Biologics’ expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Aravive Biologics expressly disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statement contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
