Immuno-Oncology Veteran Rachel Humphrey, M.D., Joins CytomX as Chief Medical Officer

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CytomX Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing Probody™ therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that Rachel Humphrey, M.D., previously a member of the company's Board of Directors, has been appointed chief medical officer. Dr. Humphrey formerly led immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, and also oversaw clinical development of Yervoy® (ipilmumab), the first FDA approved checkpoint inhibitor, at Bristol-Myers Squibb and the development of Nexavar (sorafenib) at Bayer. 

"Since joining the CytomX board of directors in March, I have been able to see at first-hand the tremendous power of the Probody platform," said Dr. Humphrey. "I am excited to now be joining the management team to help build a great company that has the potential to make a real difference for patients."

Added Sean McCarthy, D. Phil., chief executive officer of CytomX, "We were thrilled to have Rachel join the Board earlier this year, and having her now transition to the management team will allow us to benefit even more from her decades of experience in successful oncology product development and registration. Rachel's recruitment is a reflection of how we continue to execute towards our vision of transforming lives with safer, more effective therapies."

Dr. Humphrey recently held positions as vice president and head of immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly and at AstraZeneca, where she was responsible for building the immuno-oncology departments and supervising the strategies and designs for all the immuno-oncology agents in development. She previously served as vice president of product development at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she led all aspects of the clinical development of Yervoy through the submission of global biologics license applications and global launch. At Bayer, Dr. Humphrey supervised the early and late stage clinical development of Nexavar for treatment of renal cell carcinoma. She began her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Humphrey trained in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and her bachelor's degree from Harvard University.  

In connection with her appointment as chief medical officer, Dr. Humphrey will resign from the Board of Directors of CytomX.

About CytomX Therapeutics, Inc.

CytomX is an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel class of antibody therapeutics based on its Probody technology platform. The company uses the platform to create proprietary cancer immunotherapies against clinically-validated targets, as well as to develop first-in-class cancer therapeutics against novel targets. CytomX believes that its Probody platform will improve the combined efficacy and safety profile of monoclonal antibody modalities, including cancer immunotherapies, antibody drug conjugates and T-cell-recruiting bispecific antibodies. Probody therapeutics are designed to take advantage of unique conditions in the tumor microenvironment to enhance the tumor-targeting features of an antibody and reduce drug activity in healthy tissues. Probody therapeutics are being developed that address clinically-validated cancer targets in immuno-oncology, such as PD-L1, as well as novel targets, such as CD-166, that are difficult to drug and lead to damage to healthy tissues, or toxicities. In addition to its proprietary programs, CytomX is collaborating with strategic partners including Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Pfizer Inc. and ImmunoGen, Inc. For more information, visit www.cytomx.com.

Media Contacts:
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Ian Stone
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Investor Contacts:
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Pete Rahmer
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SOURCE CytomX Therapeutics

Related Links

http://www.cytomx.com