Blend Therapeuti?cs Appoints Richard Wooster, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer
Blend Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering new classes of medicines to treat cancer, has appointed pharmaceutical industry veteran Richard Wooster, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr Wooster will be responsible for leading the company’s research and development strategy and clinical operations as its lead drug candidates focused on oncology advance toward clinical development.
"We are extremely pleased that Richard has joined our team to lead the discovery and development of Blend's innovative drug candidates, which in the near term are focused on the treatment of cancer — an area of Richard’s core expertise," said Mark Iwicki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blend Therapeutics. "His extensive leadership, strategic and technical experience at the highest levels in cancer genetics and pharmaceutical drug discovery and development will be a great asset to the company to drive innovation and our partnering activities. Richard’s impact from the discovery of mutations in BRCA2 and BRAF, passion to develop personalised medicines, and innovation in drug discovery align perfectly with Blend’s objectives.”
Blend is translating its novel, integrated new molecule discovery engine and nanoparticle engineering platform into a pipeline of therapeutics with differentiated properties for oncology and other disease areas.
"I am thrilled to be leading Blend’s research and development at this exciting time in the company’s growth, and I look forward to advancing Blend’s lead compounds to the clinic,” said Richard Wooster, Ph.D, Chief Scientific Officer of Blend Therapeutics. "We have an opportunity to develop innovative and highly targeted therapeutics that can change how cancer and other serious diseases are treated."
Prior to joining Blend, Dr Wooster was Vice President and Head of the Cancer Metabolism Discovery Performance Unit in Oncology at GlaxoSmithKline. In this role he led the evaluation of the metabolic pathways that are deregulated in cancer, led the PI3K portfolio of inhibitors in Oncology at GSK and was responsible for the clinical evaluation of the novel antimitotic kinase inhibitors to PLK and CENPE. Before this we led the translational medicine group in Oncology at GSK and worked on Tykerb, Mekinist and Tafinlar. During his academic career he discovered the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2, was one of the founders of the Cancer Genome Project at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute where, among many achievements, mutations in BRAF were first discovered and he developed the COSMIC mutation database and web site. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and papers in scientific journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics and Science. Richard has a First Class BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in drug metabolizing enzymes both from the University of Dundee, Scotland.
Related News
-
News Patients vs Pharma – who will the Inflation Reduction Act affect the most?
The Inflation Reduction Act brought in by the Biden administration in 2022 aims to give better and more equitable access to healthcare in the USA. However, pharma companies are now concerned about the other potential costs of such legislation. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: What does the changing US Pharma market mean for industry and patients alike?
In this week's episode of the CPHI Podcast Series Lucy Chard, Digital Editor for CPHI Online is joined by James Manser to discuss the political and market changes in the US pharma field. -
News CPHI Barcelona Annual Report illuminates industry trends for 2024
The CPHI Annual Survey comes into it’s 7th year to report on the predicted trends for 2024. Over 250 pharma executives were asked 35 questions, with their answers informing the industry landscape for the next year, spanning all major pharma marke... -
News Which 10 drugs are open to price negotiation with Medicare in the USA?
The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services, under the Biden administration in the USA, has released a list of the 10 drugs that will be open to price negotiations as part of the new legislation under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). -
News EU Medical Devices Regulation causes unintended disappearances of medical devices for children, doctors state
Doctor groups and associations have appealed to the EU to correct the EU Medical Devices Regulation law that may cause unintended shortages of essential drug and medical devices for children and rare disease patients. -
News 10 Major Drug Approvals So Far in 2023
Last year, 37 novel drugs were approved by the FDA, this was a high number for such a category, and covered many fields including oncology, demonstrating how promising further research is, and how it is only continuing to build. To date, there are alre... -
News Detecting Alzheimer's disease with a simple lateral flow test
A novel rapid diagnostic test for early-stage Alzheimer's disease has been developed using a biomarker binder from Aptamer Group along with technology from Neuro-Bio, the neurodegenerative disease experts. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: outsourcing and manufacturing trends
Listen to the CPHI Podcast Series this June to hear Gil Roth of the PBOA speak with Digital Editor Lucy Chard about the biggest trends and topics to watch in pharma outsourcing and manufacturing at the minute.
Position your company at the heart of the global Pharma industry with a CPHI Online membership
-
Your products and solutions visible to thousands of visitors within the largest Pharma marketplace
-
Generate high-quality, engaged leads for your business, all year round
-
Promote your business as the industry’s thought-leader by hosting your reports, brochures and videos within your profile
-
Your company’s profile boosted at all participating CPHI events
-
An easy-to-use platform with a detailed dashboard showing your leads and performance