GlycoMimetics Appoints Bruce Johnson Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLYC) announced today that Bruce Johnson has joined its executive leadership team as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
"Bruce brings to GlycoMimetics a wealth of oncology / hematology expertise particularly in leading commercial and development activities across multiple launches. He shepherded two AML drugs, Midostaurin and Venetoclax, through late-stage development and approval, uniquely qualifying him to lead the commercialization efforts of our lead asset, uproleselan, should the results of our ongoing Phase 3 registrational AML trial prove positive. His near-term focus will be to develop a commercialization strategy for uproleselan, accelerate competitive readiness, and deepen medical expert engagement and scientific education," commented Harout Semerjian, GlycoMimetics' Chief Executive Officer.
Bruce joins us from Cancer Expert Now, Inc, a digital health company, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer and helped lead the organization to achieve national recognition by Inc Magazine as one of the Top 500 fastest growing small companies in America. Prior to that, Bruce spent 25 years in oncology, mostly at Novartis, with roles such as Vice President & Global Franchise Head, Malignant Hematology; Vice President & Global Disease Leader, Leukemia Franchise (Including Midostaurin); and US Oncology brand leader. Bruce was also Vice President, Global Commercial Development, Oncology at AbbVie and worked on Venetoclax life cycle management. His career began at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the GI Solid Tumor Service. His education includes graduate work at
Columbia University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and at Rutgers University School of Management in Marketing and Finance. He received a BA in Microbiology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
About Uproleselan (GMI-1271)
Discovered and developed by GlycoMimetics, uproleselan is investigational, first-in-class, targeted inhibitor of E-selectin. Uproleselan (yoo' pro le' sel an), currently in a comprehensive Phase 3 development program in AML, has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult AML patients with relapsed or refractory disease. Uproleselan is designed to block E-selectin (an adhesion molecule on cells in the bone marrow) from binding with blood cancer cells as a targeted approach to disrupting well-established mechanisms of leukemic cell resistance within the bone marrow microenvironment. In a Phase 1/2 clinical trial, uproleselan was evaluated in both newly diagnosed elderly and relapsed or refractory patients with AML. In both populations, patients treated with uproleselan together with standard chemotherapy achieved better-than-expected remission rates and overall survival compared to historical controls, which have been derived from results from third-party clinical trials evaluating standard chemotherapy, as well as lower-than-expected induction-related mortality rates. Treatment in these patient populations was generally well-tolerated, with fewer than expected adverse effects.
About GlycoMimetics, Inc.
GlycoMimetics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel glycomimetic drugs to address unmet medical needs resulting from diseases in which carbohydrate biology plays a key role. GlycoMimetics' wholly owned drug candidate, uproleselan, an E-selectin antagonist, was evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial as a potential treatment for AML and is being evaluated across a range of patient populations including a Company-sponsored Phase 3 trial in relapsed/refractory AML. GlycoMimetics has also completed a Phase 1 clinical trial with another wholly-owned drug candidate, GMI-1359, a combined CXCR4 and E-selectin antagonist. GlycoMimetics is located in Rockville, MD in the BioHealth Capital Region. Learn more at www.glycomimetics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the planned or potential clinical development and commercialization, as well as the potential benefits and impact, of the Company's drug candidates, including uproleselan. Actual results may differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks associated with these statements, as well as other risks facing GlycoMimetics, please see the risk factors described in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 2, 2021, and other filings GlycoMimetics makes with the SEC from time to time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and GlycoMimetics undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.
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