Merus Appoints Andrew Joe, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Joe brings seasoned research and development leadership and deep expertise in the clinical development of immuno-oncology, antibody, and targeted therapies for cancer

UTRECHT, The Netherlands and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merus N.V. (Nasdaq: MRUS), a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, full-length multispecific antibodies (Biclonics and Triclonics), today announced the appointment of Andrew Joe, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Joe is a medical oncologist with extensive expertise in the development of immuno-oncology, antibody and targeted cancer therapies, and with broad leadership experience in oncology drug development.

“Andrew is an accomplished R&D leader, and he will be instrumental in advancing our clinical pipeline of multispecific antibodies, including our lead program, Zenocutuzumab (“Zeno”), for neuregulin 1 (NRG1) fusion cancers,” said Bill Lundberg, M.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer of Merus. “Andrew’s experience with approvals of molecularly-targeted and tumor-agnostic cancer therapies, as well as large basket trials, will enhance our clinical execution and personalized medicine approach with Zeno.”

Dr. Joe will oversee all clinical and regulatory strategy and activities at Merus. He brings over 20 years of experience in clinical drug development and translational research within industry and academic medicine. Dr. Joe most recently led the immuno-oncology program at Sanofi, which included co-development of LIBTAYO (cemiplimab-rwlc) with Regeneron in skin, lung and other cancers. Previously at Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., he led the KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) New Indications Development Team in obtaining the first tumor/histology-agnostic drug approval  in Microsatellite Instability-High (MSI-H) cancer, and the first immuno-oncology drug approval in a gynecological malignancy (cervical cancer). Dr. Joe also played key roles at Novartis in the global approval of Zykadia (ceritinib) in ALK-positive lung cancer and at Roche in the global approval of ZELBORAF (vemurafenib) in BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma. Dr. Joe is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He received B.S. degrees in chemistry and biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.