Blueprint Medicines Appoints Oncology Drug Development Leader Christoph Lengauer as Chief Scientific Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Blueprint Medicines, a company harnessing the understanding of the molecular blueprint of cancer to develop personalized, highly-selective cancer therapies, today announced the appointment of Christoph Lengauer, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Dr. Lengauer joins Blueprint Medicines from Sanofi, where he was vice president and global head of oncology drug discovery and preclinical development.
"Christoph has been at the forefront of the development of several novel and effective cancer drugs that have had a significant impact on patients' lives and brings a powerful understanding of cancer drug development to Blueprint," said Nicholas Lydon, Ph.D., scientific co-founder of Blueprint Medicines. "He is uniquely suited to lead our cancer therapeutics development strategy, and we believe his appointment is a true validation of the potential of Blueprint Medicines' platform and our ability to leverage emerging molecular insights to develop genomically-driven, highly selective therapies."
Dr. Lengauer has a proven track record in cancer drug discovery, including contributing to 17 development candidates, 11 drugs/programs that reached first in human clinical trials and two registered drugs. While at Sanofi, he conceptualized and helped form one of the first fully integrated oncology business units in big pharma, grew a promising discovery and early development portfolio including small molecules and biologics, and built a new and highly energetic drug discovery group in Cambridge, Mass. Before joining Sanofi, Dr. Lengauer was executive director & senior unit head, oncology discovery at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR). Prior to Novartis, Dr. Lengauer served as associate professor of oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Lengauer studied human genetics in Salzburg, Austria, and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He did his postdoctoral research at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna and then in the laboratory of Profs. Bert Vogelstein and Ken Kinzler at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also received his MBA from Johns Hopkins University Business School. Dr. Lengauer is lead or senior author of several scientific articles that have been published in highly esteemed journals such as Cell, Nature and Science.
"I am delighted to welcome Christoph to the Blueprint Medicines team," said Chris Varma, chief executive officer of Blueprint Medicines. "By bringing together the pioneers and leaders in cancer drug development, our goal is to enable a transformative shift in cancer treatment. Christoph's expertise will be invaluable as we leverage the growing body of molecular and cancer genome data to develop selective cancer treatments for genetically defined patient populations that will make this transformation possible."
"We've reached a point in cancer research, where our tools will allow us to better comprehend the molecular wiring of many tumor subtypes," said Dr. Lengauer. "Blueprint's ability to translate these data and findings to create actionable insights for the development of personalized cancer therapies has the potential to truly revolutionize the way we treat cancer, and I'm excited to be a part of this team."
About Blueprint Medicines
Blueprint Medicines is driving the development of personalized, highly selective cancer therapies that harness the growing understanding of the molecular blueprint of cancer. Using its powerful Insights-to-Validation(TM) Platform and proprietary chemical library, Blueprint Medicines is working to develop new therapeutic compounds and combination therapies that target the molecular aberrations that cause cancer and the emerging resistance mechanisms that make it increasingly difficult to treat. Blueprint Medicines was founded in 2011 by a proven team of scientists, including Nicholas Lydon, Ph.D., and Brian Druker, M.D., entrepreneurs with world-renowned expertise in the development of targeted cancer therapies, cancer genomics, and rational drug development, and Third Rock Ventures. Blueprint Medicines is poised to realize the promise of the cancer data "revolution": truly personalized therapies that improve outcomes and shift cancer to a manageable condition. For more information on Blueprint Medicines, please visit the company's website at www.blueprintmedicines.com .
SOURCE: Blueprint Medicines
For Blueprint Medicines
Pure Communications
Dan Budwick, 973-271-6085
[email protected]