On April 30, 2021 MEI Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEIP) ("MEI"), a late-stage pharmaceutical company focused on advancing new therapies for cancer, reported the retirement of Robert Mass, M.D., MEI’s chief medical officer (Press release, MEI Pharma, APR 30, 2021, View Source [SID1234578870]). Dr. Mass joined the company in 2010 and will retire on May 3, 2021, after which he will continue to serve as a strategic advisor to the company. The Company also announced that Richard Ghalie, M.D., MEI’s senior vice president, clinical development, has been promoted to chief medical officer.
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"Bob’s contributions to MEI over his more than ten years at the company have been invaluable across our drug candidate pipeline, particularly in guiding the strategy and broad clinical development program for zandelisib, which will best be measured by the benefit these programs may ultimately provide to patients. I want to thank Bob for his dedication to MEI and his friendship over these past 10 years. We wish him the very best in his retirement and look forward to continued interaction through his advisory role," said Daniel P. Gold, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of MEI Pharma. "I also welcome Richard stepping into his role as our new chief medical officer, a role for which he is very well suited, as evidenced by the significant progress in our zandelisib program under Richard’s guidance and its progress with our partners at Kyowa Kirin towards zandelisib’s planned new drug application for consideration by FDA for approval under the accelerated approval pathway."
Dr. Mass commented, "Working with Dan and the entire MEI team over the past decade has been deeply rewarding and this is an ideal time for my transition. We have generated important clinical data with zandelisib indicating its potential as a best-in-class PI3K-delta specific inhibitor and launched a comprehensive clinical development plan, including monotherapy and combinations with other therapies, in low grade lymphomas and additional indications. Our initial registration study, TIDAL, has recently reached its planned recruitment target for its primary efficacy population and we have a plan in place for a future NDA submission for consideration by FDA under the accelerated approval pathway. I am confident that Richard and the extended MEI team will continue to execute our strategy to bring zandelisib to patients across a broad spectrum of B-cell malignancies and look to continued involvement in an advisory role."
Dr. Ghalie was appointed as senior vice president, clinical development in March 2016. He is a hematologist and oncologist with more than 25 years of drug development experience at public and private companies. Dr. Ghalie has held several executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry and has led medical teams that successfully filed NDAs and MAAs resulting in the approval of four new indications. Dr. Ghalie holds a medical degree from the French School of Medicine in Lebanon, a master’s degree from the University Paris XI and an MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle. He has authored or co-authored more than 125 manuscripts, book chapters and scientific publications.