Brings 17 years oncology drug development experience in over 100
clinical trials in multiple tumor indications to role of CMO
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA), a biopharmaceutical company
focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule
drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today announced that Vojo
Vukovic, M.D., Ph.D. has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief
Medical Officer, Synta Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his appointment, Dr.
Vukovic was Vice President, Clinical Research at Synta, a position he
has held since January 2009. Eric Jacobson, M.D., recently announced his
resignation as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, and will
be leaving Synta after a brief transition period.
“Vojo’s experience in all stages of clinical development in a wide range
of cancer indications will be invaluable to Synta as we advance STA-9090
in the clinic and as we complete our analyses for elesclomol,” said Safi
Bahcall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Synta. “In
addition to his clinical experience, Vojo’s research background in tumor
biology will be an important advantage in advancing the translational
science aspects of each of our programs. Vojo has demonstrated strong
leadership working on our Hsp90 program to date, and I expect a smooth
transition in his new role.”
In addition to the on-going trials of STA-9090, Synta will be initiating
a second, once-weekly dosing Phase 2 trial in hematologic cancers in the
second half of the year, and expects to initiate several new Phase 2
clinical trials in solid tumors in 2009 and early 2010. More details
regarding these trials will be announced later this year. Trials of
elesclomol are currently on hold pending the completion of analyses of
the results of the Phase 3 SYMMETRY trial in metastatic melanoma.
Dr. Bahcall thanked Dr. Jacobson for his contributions to Synta over the
past four years. “Eric has been a strong leader for our clinical team
who has earned the respect and admiration of all of us at Synta as well
as the many clinicians with whom he has worked on a variety of clinical
trials in oncology and inflammatory disease. He will be missed by all of
us at Synta and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Dr. Vukovic joined Synta as Vice President, Clinical Research with 17
years experience in oncology drug development. Prior to Synta, he was
Global Medical Lead for Sutent® and axitinib in a number of cancer
indications at Pfizer.
