WALTHAM, Mass.--(
BUSINESS WIRE)--
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing key mechanisms of tumor drug resistance, today announced that it has elected Mr. Steven L. Hoerter, Chief Commercial Officer at Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to its Board of Directors, effective as of May 17, 2018. Mr. Hoerter will serve as an independent director and a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The number of Deciphera directors was increased from eight to nine in connection with Mr. Hoerter’s election.
“We are delighted to welcome Steve to our Board of Directors, and we value the expertise he brings to Deciphera at this strategically important time in the evolution of the Company,” stated Michael D. Taylor, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals. “Mr. Hoerter’s extensive commercial experience will be invaluable as we advance DCC-2618 through late stage development and plan for the possible registration and launch of this potential treatment for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors.”
“I’m excited by Deciphera’s robust oncology pipeline, and I look forward to helping guide the outstanding team at Deciphera as they work to bring these novel, precision medicines to patients,” said Mr. Hoerter.
Mr. Hoerter has served as Chief Commercial Officer of Agios since early 2016 where he built and leads the team responsible for the commercialization of the company’s portfolio of first-in-class medicines for oncology and rare genetic diseases. He has more than 25 years of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience, having held senior positions at leading oncology companies. Prior to joining Agios, Mr. Hoerter was executive vice president and Chief Commercial Officer at Clovis Oncology, Inc., where he built and led the company’s commercial organization. Before joining Clovis, he was General Manager and Management Center Head at Roche for the Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean Region. From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Hoerter held a variety of positions at Genentech, Inc., including serving on the senior leadership team for Genentech’s BioOncology business. Prior to that, Mr. Hoerter held commercial roles at Chiron Corporation and Eli Lilly and Company in the U.S., Europe, and Africa. Mr. Hoerter was a member of the Board of Directors of Ignyta, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on precision medicine in oncology, until the company’s acquisition by Roche earlier this year. Mr. Hoerter received his B.A. from Bucknell University, M.B.A. from Tilburg University and M.S. in management from Purdue University.
About Deciphera Pharmaceuticals
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of cancer patients by tackling key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and/or durability of response to existing cancer therapies. Our small molecule drug candidates are directed against an important family of enzymes called kinases, known to be directly involved in the growth and spread of many cancers. We use our deep understanding of kinase biology together with a proprietary chemistry library to purposefully design compounds that maintain kinases in a “switched off” or inactivated conformation. These investigational therapies comprise tumor-targeted agents designed to address therapeutic resistance causing mutations and immuno-targeted agents designed to control the activation of immunokinases that suppress critical immune system regulators, such as macrophages. We have used our platform to develop a diverse pipeline of tumor-targeted and immuno-targeted drug candidates designed to improve outcomes for patients with cancer by improving the quality, rate and/or durability of their responses to treatment.
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