BeyondSpring Strengthens Executive Rank for Pipeline Expansion and Commercialization Readiness in China
January 6, 2020
Dr. James Tonra Promoted to Chief Scientific Officer; Roland Liu Named Chief Commercial Officer for China Subsidiary
NEW YORK, Jan. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BeyondSpring Inc. (the “Company” or “BeyondSpring”) (NASDAQ: BYSI), a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative immuno-oncology cancer therapies, announced today the appointment of Dr. James Tonra, Ph.D. as Chief Science Officer, effective immediately. Dr. Tonra had previously served as Senior Vice President, Preclinical Development at BeyondSpring since April 2018. In addition, Dalian Wanchunbulin Pharmaceuticals Ltd., BeyondSpring’s majority owned subsidiary in China, has tapped a commercial veteran, Roland Liu to serve as Chief Commercial Officer for China.
In his previous position at BeyondSpring, Dr. Tonra has focused heavily on the Company’s I/O strategy, pipeline development and ubiquitination platform advancements, among other responsibilities. He was part of the team that discovered Plinabulin’s differentiated mechanism of action and helped to advance the publication of four peer reviewed papers in leading journals in 2019, including two journals from Cell Press. Additionally, he was instrumental in expanding Plinabulin’s clinical indications through outsourced nonclinical research, collaborating with leading experts, and was responsible for prioritizing and advancing the Company’s preclinical programs toward successful clinical testing.
Prior to joining BeyondSpring, Dr. Tonra had over 20 years of drug development experience working in leading innovative biotech companies, including Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Kadmon Holdings and ImClone Systems/Eli Lilly, specializing in translating pre-clinical assets to clinical development and expanding the utility of clinically advanced assets. His research is published in over 45 peer-reviewed journals and he is an inventor on multiple patents claiming new uses for drugs. In the nearly 10 years Dr. Tonra spent at ImClone, his efforts were critical in the validation and IND filing for 10 pre-clinical assets, including Cyramza®, Portrazza®, and Lartruvo®. Moreover, Dr. Tonra’s preclinical work at ImClone demonstrated synergy between the combination of agents such as Cyramza and Tarceva®, recently shown to have meaningful clinical benefit in a subtype of non-small cell lung cancer patients.
“As a scientist, it is thrilling to understand the mechanism that makes certain compounds work in the human body,” commented Dr. Tonra. “When it comes to Plinabulin and the important work we are doing at BeyondSpring to help patients in need all over the world, we have made it our mission to make sure that our beliefs around the vast promise of Plinabulin as a ‘pipeline in a drug’ are backed up by hard science and data. Our goal is to create a more effective standard of care in Plinabulin for the broadest population of cancer patients, as we advance a pipeline of innovative new projects driven by intense scientific investigation and critique, partnered with high quality and ethical drug candidate development.”
Mr. Roland Liu has over 15 years of experience in marketing of oncology drugs in China. He worked at Bayer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Bristol-Myers Squibb in China, where he has managed multiple oncology brands, including Glivec®, Tasigna® and Nexavar®. He served as Head of Marketing for Sinopharm-think Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which is the anti-cancer platform of China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation. Mr. Liu also had entrepreneur experience, as he joins Dalian Wanchunbulin from Medally Solutions Co., Ltd., a marketing consulting company, where he served as Founder and CEO.
“As the Company moves closer to Plinabulin’s commercialization with planned NDA filings in 2020 in China and the U.S., and bring additional pipeline assets to IND stage, it is our great pleasure to have Dr. Tonra to serve as BeyondSpring’s Chief Science Officer, and have Mr. Liu as Chief Commercial Officer for our China subsidiary. Both Dr. Tonra and Mr. Liu bring impressive, unique skillsets and leadership qualities to BeyondSpring,” concluded Dr. Lan Huang, BeyondSpring’s CEO and Co-Founder. “With Dr. Tonra’s pre-clinical asset development experience, along with Mr. Liu’s rich experience in commercial product launches and product lifecycle management in China, BeyondSpring is poised to transform from a clinical- to commercial-stage company, with a robust pipeline, operating in the two largest pharmaceutical markets in the world.”
About BeyondSpring
BeyondSpring is a global, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative immuno-oncology cancer therapies. BeyondSpring’s lead asset, first in class agent Plinabulin, is in a Phase 3 global clinical trial as a direct anticancer agent in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and two Phase 3 clinical programs in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN). BeyondSpring has strong R&D capabilities with a robust pipeline in addition to Plinabulin, including three immuno-oncology assets and a drug discovery platform using the ubiquitination degradation pathway. The Company also has a seasoned management team with many years of experience bringing drugs to the global market.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements that are not historical facts. Words such as “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “believe,” “design,” “may,” “future,” “estimate,” “predict,” “objective,” “goal,” or variations thereof and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on BeyondSpring’s current knowledge and its present beliefs and expectations regarding possible future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors including, but not limited to, difficulties raising the anticipated amount needed to finance the Company’s future operations on terms acceptable to the Company, if at all, unexpected results of clinical trials, delays or denial in regulatory approval process, results that do not meet our expectations regarding the potential safety, the ultimate efficacy or clinical utility of our product candidates, increased competition in the market, and other risks described in BeyondSpring’s most recent Form 20-F on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this release and BeyondSpring undertakes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as otherwise required by law.
RECENT NEWS ARTICLES
BeyondSpring Presents Final Data Analysis of DUBLIN-3 Phase 3 Study in 2L/3L EGFR Wild-type NSCLC at ESMO Congress 2024
Plinabulin/Docetaxel Combination Demonstrated Favorable Benefit/Risk Ratio over Docetaxel Alone: Significant Improvement in Overall Survival, Progression Free Survival, and Objective Response, with additional Significant Reduction of Grade 4 Neutropenia (>80%...
BeyondSpring Presents Efficacy/Safety Results from a Phase 2 Study of Pembrolizumab plus Plinabulin/Docetaxel in Metastatic NSCLC after Progressing on First-Line Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors at ESMO Congress 2024
Median PFS at 8.63 months and Disease Control Rate of 89.5% in Previously Treated NSCLC Patients after Progression on PD-1/L1 Monotherapy or in Combination with Platinum Doublet Chemotherapy Florham Park, N.J., September 16, 2024 – BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI)...
BeyondSpring Delivers Oral Presentation at ISLAC 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer of its Lead Anti-Cancer Asset Plinabulin Showcasing Positive Final Phase 3 Data in 2L/3L NSCLC EGFR Wild-Type with Concurrent Publication in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine
Statistically Significant and Clinically Meaningful Efficacy Data with Favorable Benefit/Risk ratio from DUBLIN-3 Phase 3 Study of Plinabulin plus Docetaxel vs. Docetaxel in EGFR Wild-Type NSCLC after Progression on Platinum-based Therapy Plinabulin/Docetaxel...
BeyondSpring Announces Oral Presentation at the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer and Two Poster Presentations During ESMO Congress 2024 Showcasing its Lead Anti-Cancer Asset, Plinabulin
Florham Park, N.J., September 3, 2024 – BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer therapies, today announces that it will have an oral presentation on...
SEED Therapeutics (SEED) Enters into Strategic Research Collaboration with Eisai Co., Ltd. to Discover and Develop Novel Molecular Glue Degraders for Neurodegeneration and Oncology Indications
SEED Concurrently Enters into Share Purchase Agreements for its Series A-3 Financing Led by Eisai The SEED-Eisai Research Collaboration leverages Eisai’s leading expertise in neurodegeneration and cancer. SEED is entitled to receive upfront and milestone payments of...
BeyondSpring R&D Day Highlights New Plinabulin Development Strategy for Cancer and Updates for SEED Therapeutics
Florham Park, N.J., May 16, 2024 – BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer therapies, today announced that it hosted a virtual Research and...
BeyondSpring To Host Virtual R&D Day to Discuss New Plinabulin Development Strategy for Cancer and Updates for SEED Therapeutics
Florham Park, N.J., May 3, 2024 – BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer therapies, today announced it will host a Research and Development (R&D)...
BeyondSpring Provides Business Update and Reports Year End 2023 Financial Results
BeyondSpring Dosed First Patient of Two Phase 2 Investigator-Initiated Trials (IIT) in Plinabulin and Keytruda Combination Studies SITC 2023 Presentation of the Phase 1 Topline Clinical and Mechanism Data of BeyondSpring’s Lead Asset Plinabulin in Combination with...
BeyondSpring Files 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F
Florham Park, N.J., April 29, 2024 – BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer therapies, today announced that it has filed its annual report on Form...
BeyondSpring Announces First Patient Dosed with Pembrolizumab, Plinabulin Plus Etoposide/Platinum in a Phase 2 Investigator-initiated Study of First-Line Extensive-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer
FLORHAM PARK, N.J., March 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BeyondSpring Inc. (NASDAQ: BYSI) (“BeyondSpring” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cancer therapies, today announced that the first patient has...
RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE
Seeking Alpha: BeyondSpring plinabulin, Merck Keytruda combo shows promise in NSCLC
Added Plinabulin Boosts OS as Later-Line Treatment for EGFR Wild-Type NSCLC
IO360: Developing a Molecule to Help Patients Respond to Immunotherapy
TD Ameritrade Watch List
Read More
Managing Chemotherapy Toxicities for Improved Patient Outcomes
Read More
New Treatment Modalities: Protein Degraders And Molecular Glues Gain Traction
Read More
Seed Therapeutics blossoms in an $800M deal with Lilly
Read More
Seed Therapeutics Launches Protein Degradation Research Platform and Appoints Edward Dongheng Liu as Chief Financial Officer
Read More
BeyondSpring Forms Partnership Advisory Committee Comprised of Industry Veterans
Read More
JAMA Oncology Highlights Plinabulin’s Efficacy in Preventing Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia as a Monotherapy
Read More