CAMBRIDGE, Mass., February 1, 2021- KSQ Therapeutics, a biotechnology company using its proprietary CRISPRomics® discovery platform to systematically screen the whole genome to identify optimal gene targets for oncology and autoimmune disease, today announced key strategic management changes, promoting Micah Benson, Ph.D., to Senior Vice President and Head of Immunobiology and promoting Andrew Wylie, Ph.D., to Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology.
“These well-deserved promotions are critical as we advance KSQ-4279, our novel USP1 inhibitor, and KSQ-001, our lead eTIL™ program, toward the clinic and continue to progress our broad CRISPRomics enabled pipeline of novel therapeutics,” said Frank Stegmeier, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of KSQ. “Andy’s work has been integral in driving forward our targeted oncology programs, including KSQ-4279, while Micah has played a pivotal role in the discovery and advancement of our immuno-oncology programs, including our recent strategic alliance with Takeda.”
“KSQ’s CRISPRomics platform provides insights that lead to identification and validation of novel targets across multiple disease areas, agnostic of modality. This creates tremendous opportunity both for our internal development team as well as for current and future partners,” said Benson.
“KSQ-4279 demonstrates the potential of KSQ’s platform to discover novel disease targets and develop therapeutic programs that can effectively target them,” said Wylie. “We are excited to further explore the potential of KSQ-4279 in the clinic as both a monotherapy and in combination with existing regimens.”
Micah Benson, Ph.D., has been Vice President Head of Immunobiology since 2016. During this tenure, he has been responsible for helping lead KSQ’s immuno-oncology and autoimmunity discovery and development efforts, which has led to the discovery and validation of multiple novel targets and our recent strategic partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Through his promotion to Senior Vice President, he will continue to lead the company’s immunology discovery and development efforts.
Andrew Wylie, Ph.D., has been Vice President Head of Oncology at KSQ since 2018. He played a vital role in the advancement of the USP1 program, a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of a DNA damage repair pathway target identified using CRISPRomics®. In being promoted to Senior Vice President, he will continue to drive forward KSQ’s targeted oncology discovery programs.
About KSQ Therapeutics
KSQ Therapeutics is advancing a pipeline of tumor- and immune-focused drug candidates for the treatment of cancer across multiple drug modalities including targeted therapies, adoptive cell therapies and immuno-therapies. KSQ’s proprietary CRISPRomics® discovery engine enables genome-scale, in vivo validated, unbiased drug discovery across broad therapeutic areas. KSQ was founded by thought leaders in the field of functional genomics and pioneers of CRISPR screening technologies. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.ksqtx.com and follow @ksq_tx on Twitter.
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