TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TCON) Announces Appointment Of Ronald Shazer, M.D., M.B.A., As Chief Medical Officer

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 06, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TRACON Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TCON), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel targeted therapeutics for cancer, wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and fibrotic diseases, today announced that Ronald Shazer, M.D., M.B.A., has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer.

"We are thrilled to expand our clinical leadership at TRACON with the addition of Ron to our management team," said Charles P. Theuer, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of TRACON. "His depth and breadth of technical and management experience in clinical development, along with his deep understanding of oncology, gained through leading clinical development of a number of therapies in solid and hematologic malignancies, will help drive TRACON's success."

Dr. Shazer was most recently Senior Director, Clinical Lead Oncology at Pfizer where he led the clinical development of multiple immuno-oncology compounds including antibody drug conjugates, dual targeting T-cell engaging antibodies, and small molecules. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Shazer was Director, Clinical Research Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 2011 to 2013 and served as the study lead on the registrational study for elotuzumab which received U.S. FDA breakthrough therapy designation in 2014. Prior to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Shazer was Head of Clinical Development at Arena Pharmaceuticals during the filing of the NDA for lorcaserin (Belviq®).

Dr. Shazer held academic positions in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Shazer earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, M.D. from the New York Medical College, and M.B.A from the Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 2004.

About TRACON

TRACON develops targeted therapies for cancer, wet AMD and fibrotic diseases. TRACON's current pipeline includes two clinical stage product candidates: TRC105, an anti-endoglin antibody that is being developed for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, soft tissue sarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, glioblastoma and choriocarcinoma, and TRC102, a small molecule that is being developed for the treatment of lung cancer and glioblastoma. To learn more about TRACON and its product candidates, visit TRACON's website at www.traconpharma.com.