Curis, Inc. Announces Executive Management Transition
-- Ali Fattaey, Ph.D. Promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer --
-- Daniel Passeri Assumes Role of Vice Chairman, Curis Board of Directors and Strategic Advisor --
LEXINGTON, Mass., June 3, 2014 -- Curis, Inc. (Nasdaq:CRIS), an oncology-focused company developing novel drug candidates for the treatment of human cancers, today announced the appointment of Ali Fattaey, Ph.D. as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors. Dr. Fattaey formerly served as the Company's President and Chief Operating Officer. He will succeed Dan Passeri following his resignation from the position of Chief Executive Officer, which was also announced today. Mr. Passeri has been appointed Vice Chairman of Curis' Board of Directors and will also serve as a strategic advisor to Curis.
"During his tenure as President and Chief Operating Officer, Ali has brought significant oncology experience to the Curis management team and has consistently demonstrated the leadership skills and strategic thinking that will be essential taking Curis to the next level in drug development," said Dan Passeri. "It has been my pleasure working closely with Ali, and I am highly confident that Curis and its' shareholders will continue to benefit from Ali's leadership and vision as he assumes these additional responsibilities."
Mr. Passeri continued, "Over the past several years, we have focused on building deeper oncology drug development capabilities. We believe that Curis is now well positioned to successfully implement the next stages of our strategy for the advancement of drug candidates."
"We believe this management transition will help further build upon our strengths as a clinical development-focused biotech company," stated James R. McNab, Jr., Chairman of Curis' Board of Directors. "Over the past several years, Dan has helped re-position Curis through focused early development of our proprietary pipeline of oncology drug candidates. Dan has also led the Company into several important partnerships, including our broad collaboration with Genentech (Roche) resulting in the 2012 approval of the first-in-class Hedgehog pathway inhibitor, Erivedge for the treatment of advanced BCC, as well as our alliance with Debiopharm on Debio 0932. We are pleased to have Dan assume the role of Vice Chairman of our Board and we look forward to his service as a strategic advisor."
Mr. McNab continued, "We are equally pleased to promote Ali to the position of President and CEO and welcome Ali to the Board. Ali brings a substantial depth of strategic and management experience as well as expertise in both preclinical and clinical oncology drug development to his new roles. We look forward to working closely with Ali as we seek to advance Curis as an innovative oncology company dedicated to developing promising new drugs for the benefit of cancer patients and creating value for our shareholders."
"During these exciting times in oncology, I am thrilled to be part of Curis and lead the Company in its efforts to become an innovative developer of cancer drugs," said Dr. Fattaey. "I have enjoyed working with Dan to put us on our path and look forward to continuing to work alongside him in his new roles. We have built a strong team and will continue with our focused efforts to advance our proprietary drug candidates, CUDC-907 and CUDC-427, and to work closely with our partners Genentech, Roche, and Debiopharm."