IDEAYA Biosciences Appoints Dr. Frank McCormick as Chair of Scientific Advisory Board

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDYA), a synthetic lethality focused precision medicine oncology company committed to the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics, announced the appointment of Frank McCormick, Ph.D., FRS, to Chair of the IDEAYA Scientific Advisory Board.    

Dr. McCormick is a Professor at the University of California at San Francisco's (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and holds the David A. Wood Chair of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research at UCSF.  Prior to joining UCSF, Frank was Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, building on his earlier research and leadership experiences at Cetus and Chiron.  Dr. McCormick has served as President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and has a leadership role at the Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research, overseeing an NCI supported national effort to develop therapies against Ras-driven cancers.

"IDEAYA has a leading first-in-class synthetic lethality focused precision medicine oncology pipeline, including darovasertib, a Phase 2 PKC inhibitor, IDE397, a Phase 1 MAT2A inhibitor, and preclinical programs targeting PARG, Pol Theta, and Werner Helicase.  IDEAYA is also investing in its robust synthetic lethality platform to enable the discovery and development of its next-generation synthetic lethality programs.  This novel platform includes target and biomarker discovery and validation, fully-integrated small molecule and protein degrader drug discovery capabilities and leading translational biology capabilities," said Dr. McCormick. 

"Dr. McCormick has been an integral member of IDEAYA's Scientific Advisory Board since he joined in November 2018.  In his role as Chair, Dr. McCormick's extraordinary acumen in cancer biology and oncology drug discovery and development will be invaluable to IDEAYA as we continue to advance our leadership in the emerging field of synthetic lethality and advance our broad clinical and preclinical precision medicine oncology pipeline that has the potential to deliver significant patient benefit," noted Michael White, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of IDEAYA Biosciences.

Other members of IDEAYA's Scientific Advisory Board include Dr. William Sellers, M.D. (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School), Elizabeth Swisher, M.D. (University of Washington), Brian Daniels, M.D. (former SVP, Global Development and Medical Affairs, Bristol-Meyers Squibb), Trey Ideker, Ph.D. (University of California at San Diego) and Jeffrey Hager Ph.D. (former Chief Technology Officer at IDEAYA Biosciences).

About IDEAYA Biosciences

IDEAYA is a synthetic lethality focused precision medicine oncology company committed to the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics for patient populations selected using molecular diagnostics.  IDEAYAs approach integrates capabilities in identifying and validating translational biomarkers with drug discovery to select patient populations most likely to benefit from its targeted therapies.  IDEAYA is applying its research and drug discovery capabilities to synthetic lethality – which represents an emerging class of precision medicine targets.   

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to the potential first-in-class nature of its programs . Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause IDEAYA's preclinical and clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the drug development process, including IDEAYA's programs' early stage of development, the process of designing and conducting preclinical and clinical trials, the regulatory approval processes, the timing of regulatory filings, the challenges associated with manufacturing drug products, IDEAYA's ability to successfully establish, protect and defend its intellectual property, the effects on IDEAYA's business of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and other matters that could affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations. IDEAYA undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of IDEAYA in general, see IDEAYA's recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 15, 2021 and any current and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc.