MELBOURNE, Australia: Amplia Therapeutics Limited (ASX: ATX), a company developing new drug candidates for the treatment for cancer and fibrosis, announced the appointment of Christopher Burns Ph.D. as Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Director starting Dec 5th 2022.
Dr Burns is a founder of Amplia and has served as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors.
Dr Burns has over 30 years’ experience in drug discovery and development and has served in executive level positions, including as CEO, for a number of public and private biotechnology companies.
Dr Burns’ deep experience in cancer biology and kinase inhibitor development has contributed to advancement of multiple clinical candidates and he was the lead inventor of the drug momelotinib, a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor targeting myelofibrosis, which was recently acquired by GSK for US$1.9 billion.
Amplia Chairman Dr Warwick Tong commented, “Chris is a highly experienced and accomplished oncology drug developer and brings a wealth of management expertise to the role. We are delighted he will step into the CEO role to continue to drive the clinical development of AMP945, Amplia’s lead Focal Adhesion Kinase inhibitor. He has been with the company since its inception, is a passionate advocate for Amplia’s technology, and has the leadership skills required to take Amplia through its next exciting stages of growth.”
Christopher Burns will succeed Dr John Lambert, who has served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Company since June 2019 and February 2020, respectively. Dr Lambert and Dr Burns will work together over the coming months to ensure a seamless transition of operations.
Christopher Burns said: “John Lambert has done a remarkable job and has guided the Company to this very exciting stage as we undertake our ACCENT trial of AMP945 in people with pancreatic cancer. I am excited to work with the excellent team at Amplia and continue to actively drive the ACCENT trial, whilst also progressing our preclinical work in other oncology indications, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and with our second asset AMP886.”