Kura Oncology Appoints Michael Vasconcelles, M.D., to Board of Directors

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kura Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: KURA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer, today announced the appointment of Michael Vasconcelles, M.D., to its Board of Directors. Dr. Vasconcelles is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of oncology drug development experience and industry leadership.

“On behalf of our Board and leadership team, we are delighted to have Mike join our Board of Directors,” said Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Kura Oncology. “His extensive experience in R&D and regulatory affairs, combined with his leadership across both large and emerging companies, will be invaluable as we advance our menin inhibitor and farnesyl transferase inhibitor (FTI) programs for cancer patients in need.”

Dr. Vasconcelles currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Life Sciences team at Frazier Healthcare Partners. Previously, he was Executive Vice President & Head of Research, Development, and Medical Affairs at ImmunoGen. Prior to ImmunoGen, he was the Chief Medical Officer and Head of the Medical and Scientific Organization at Flatiron Health, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Roche Group. Before that, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Unum Therapeutics. Prior to joining Unum, Dr. Vasconcelles spent several years at Takeda/Millennium as Senior Vice President and Head of the Oncology Therapy Area unit. Prior to Takeda/Millennium, he was Group Vice President and the Global Therapeutic Area Head of Transplant and Oncology at Genzyme Corporation. After Sanofi’s acquisition of Genzyme, Dr. Vasconcelles joined Sanofi Oncology as Head of Personalized Medicine and Companion Diagnostics.

“I am eager to join Kura’s Board of Directors during a key inflection point in the company’s trajectory,” said Dr. Vasconcelles. “Kura’s innovative approach to precision oncology, particularly with their menin inhibitor program for acute leukemias, presents a remarkable opportunity to make a meaningful impact for patients. I look forward to working with the team to advance these promising therapies through the clinic and toward commercialization.”

Dr. Vasconcelles also serves as a Board member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and the Eastern New England American Cancer Society, a non-executive director of Molecular Partners, and a member of numerous Scientific Advisory Boards within the biopharmaceutical industry. From 1996 to 2021, Dr. Vasconcelles taught as a clinical instructor at the Harvard Medical School and was an associate physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Vasconcelles received his B.A. and M.D. from Northwestern University.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer. The Company’s pipeline consists of small molecule drug candidates that target cancer signaling pathways. Ziftomenib, a once-daily, oral drug candidate targeting the menin-KMT2A protein-protein interaction, has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (R/R) NPM1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Kura has completed enrollment in a Phase 2 registration-directed trial of ziftomenib in R/R NPM1-mutant AML (KOMET-001). The Company is also conducting a series of clinical trials to evaluate ziftomenib in combination with current standards of care in newly diagnosed and R/R NPM1-mutant and KMT2A-rearranged AML. Kura is evaluating KO-2806, a next-generation FTI, in a Phase 1 dose-escalation trial as a monotherapy and in combination with targeted therapies (FIT-001). Tipifarnib, a potent and selective FTI, is currently in a Phase 1/2 trial in combination with alpelisib for patients with PIK3CA-dependent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (KURRENT-HN). For additional information, please visit Kura’s website at and follow us on and .

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding, among other things, the efficacy, safety and therapeutic potential of ziftomenib, potential benefits of combining ziftomenib with appropriate standards of care, and progress and expected timing of the ziftomenib program and clinical trials. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include the risk that compounds that appeared promising in early research or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in later preclinical studies or clinical trials, the risk that Kura may not obtain approval to market its product candidates, uncertainties associated with performing clinical trials, regulatory filings, applications and other interactions with regulatory bodies, risks associated with reliance on third parties to successfully conduct clinical trials, the risks associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements, and other risks associated with the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such drugs. You are urged to consider statements that include the words “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “promise,” “potential,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “continues,” “designed,” “goal,” or the negative of those words or other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the Company faces, please refer to the Company’s periodic and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 filed with the SEC on August 8, 2024, which are available at . Such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date they are made, and Kura assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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