FLX Bio Inc., based in South San Francisco, California and established to discover and develop novel cancer immunotherapies, announced the appointment of two senior company officials.
David Wustrow, Ph.D., has been appointed as vice president of Drug Discovery, and Paul Kassner, Ph.D., has been appointed as the company’s Vice President of Quantitative Biology.
FLX Bio was established to discover and develop novel cancer immunotherapies, leveraged by the company’s understanding of tumor pathways. The current management team has a substantial record of expertise in research areas like tumor microenvironment, drug discovery, and translational areas, which all contribute to develop novel medicines that activate the immune response to eliminate cancer cells.
Wustrow, who holds a Ph.D. in organic synthesis from the University of Rochester in New York, has more than two decades of experience in pharmaceutical research and development – including areas such as drug product manufacturing, preclinical development, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics or medicinal chemistry – and his work has led to the discovery of numerous small molecule drug candidates across a broad range of target classes and therapeutic areas, such as inflammation and cancer.
Before working at FLX Bio, Wustrow was vice president, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Cleave Biosciences, where he led chemistry projects aimed at discovering and developing first-in-class drug products for solid and hematologic malignancies. Wustrow has also integrated managing teams at XenoPort, Neurogen, and Pfizer, where he developed candidates for the treatment of pain, inflammation, and psychiatric disorders.
Kassner completed his Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University, and continued with postdoctoral work in cellular neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. Kassner joined FLX Bio after 18 years of building and leading top-rated technical teams in several biopharma organizations.
He was director of research and head of the Genome Analysis Unit at Amgen, where he developed and implemented multiple platforms for target identification and drug discovery throughout a number of therapeutic areas. Before Amgen, he held scientific and leadership positions in several companies and organizations, enabling him to pursue his passion for creating novel discoveries.
“We are delighted to welcome Paul and Dave to the management team at FLX Bio as the company advances its growing immuno-oncology and targeted oncology pipeline. The organization will benefit greatly from the experience of these accomplished executives and scientific leaders,” FLX President and CEO Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., said in a press release.
