PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Context Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing new medicines for patients with hormone-responsive cancers, today announced the appointments of Scott Applebaum as its President and Richard Morris as its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Both appointments are effective immediately.
Mr. Applebaum and Mr. Morris join Context from Vitae Pharmaceuticals, where they were part of the senior management team that successfully led Vitae’s sale to Allergan for $639 million at a 159% premium in October 2016.
"I am incredibly excited to welcome transformational leaders like Scott and Rich to Context,” said Martin Lehr, Context Co-founder and CEO. “Adding executives of their caliber and experience allows Context to take a leap forward to accelerate our goal of bringing needed therapies to patients with hormone responsive cancers. The additions begin the transition of Context into a fully integrated biotech that is capable of discovering, developing, and commercializing drugs."
Mr. Applebaum joins Context with over 20 years of experience and successes in senior leadership roles in small biotechnology companies, as well as mid-size and large specialty pharmaceutical companies. Scott is a proven, strategic leader who has built and grown best-in-class organizations in numerous functions and geographies, leading to approvals and successful launches of multiple market-leading therapies. Most recently, he served as General Counsel of Vitae. He previously held multiple senior leadership roles at Shire Pharmaceuticals, including Head of its Global Neuroscience Business Unit, SVP of Global Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance and SVP of Legal. Prior to joining Shire, he served in various legal and compliance roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and worked as a corporate tax associate at Dechert LLP.
Mr. Morris joins Context with over 20 years of experience of building successful organizations in the biotechnology industry. Prior to Context, Mr. Morris was CFO of Vitae, where he led the company through multiple successful public offerings, including its IPO in 2014 and its subsequent sale to Allergan in 2016. Prior to Vitae, he was Vice President, Financial Planning and Strategy at ViroPharma Incorporated when it was acquired by Shire for $4.2 billion in 2014. Mr. Morris held multiple positions in his time at ViroPharma including Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. In addition to his expertise in building finance organizations and structuring business development transactions, Mr. Morris helped establish ViroPharma’s European and global pharmaceutical operations. Prior to joining ViroPharma, Mr. Morris worked for KPMG LLP in its Healthcare Assurance practice.
"Marty and his Co-founder, Dr. Felix Kim, are visionary leaders and I look forward to working with two of them, Rich, and the rest of the Context team,” stated Mr. Applebaum. “Oncology is an area that has seen great advances in the past few years, but unfortunately hormone-responsive cancers such as prostate and breast cancer have not equally benefited from the advances in immuno-oncology. Through internal discovery and selective product in-licensing/acquisitions, we believe we can find novel therapies that can improve treatment response and quality of life for hormone-responsive cancer patients.”
"Context is exactly the type of company that I was looking to join,” said Mr. Morris. “The science has the potential to be impactful on the lives of patients with hormone-responsive cancers and the company, including Marty, Felix, Scott and the rest of the team, is committed to building the organization and diversified pipeline that will bring new therapies to these patients. I look forward to building a dynamic, high-energy, efficient organization that will always act in patients' bests interests."
CONTEXT THERAPEUTICS
Context Therapeutics is a private, Philadelphia, PA based biotechnology company dedicated to creating new medicines to treat hormone-responsive cancers. We are building Context Therapeutics to become a global company that will discover, develop and market groundbreaking cancer treatments to patients around the world, eliminating the fear that comes with a cancer diagnosis. For more information on Context, visit www.contexttherapeutics.com.
