BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OnKure, Inc. today announced the appointment of three key members to its management team, James Winkler, Ph.D. as Vice President of Discovery and Translational Biology, R. Michael Carruthers as Chief Financial Officer and Keith Olivia as General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Affairs. Each of the three new management team members brings decades of leadership to OnKure during an important time in the company’s growth, and fills a newly created position.
Dr. Winkler will be responsible for the discovery and development of OnKure’s growing portfolio of novel compounds. He has over 30 years of experience working in oncology and inflammatory diseases, both in the science of early drug discovery and in building and leading teams through the discovery phase and into development. He has held positions with FORMA Therapeutics, Arvinas, Array BioPhama, GlaxoSmithKline, SmithKline Beecham and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Winkler received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He did his post-doctoral fellowship training with Dr. Stanley Crooke at SmithKline Beecham.
“I am excited to join the OnKure team, a very experienced group with a history of discovering and developing great molecules,” said Dr. Winkler. “We will leverage that expertise to create unique best-in-class HDAC inhibitors, and couple those molecules to robust, scientific patient selection.”
Mr. Carruthers will be responsible for OnKure’s financial operations. He has over 25 years of executive-level financial expertise, including serving as the Chief Financial Officer for three publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Carruthers joins OnKure from Nivalis Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NVLS), where he served as Interim President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. Prior to working at Nivalis, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Array BioPharma (Nasdaq: ARRY), Chief Financial Officer of Sievers Instruments, Treasurer and Controller of the Waukesha division of Dover Corporation, and an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Carruthers received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
“I am delighted to reunite and work with my previous Array colleagues. As our lead compound moves into human clinical studies, we are excited by its potential to provide patients with life-improving and life-extending therapies,” said Mr. Carruthers.
Mr. Olivia will be responsible for OnKure’s legal matters and corporate affairs. He brings over 20 years of experience in transactional law, including working in international, regional and boutique business law firms, and has served as OnKure’s outside corporate counsel since its founding in April 2011. Mr. Olivia received a BS in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University, a JD from The Ohio State University College of Law, and an LLM in Taxation from the University of Florida College of Law. He has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado’s School of Law and Colorado State University’s MBA Program.
“I am privileged to be able to work with OnKure full-time and excited by the challenges associated with the continued development of our clinical and pre-clinical drug candidates,” said Mr. Olivia.
All the new management team members will report directly to Tony Piscopio, Ph.D., OnKure’s Chief Executive Office and President.
“This is an important growth period for OnKure so from a timing perspective, it is great to get the Array band back together,” said Dr. Piscopio.
About OnKure
OnKure, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted small molecule drugs to improve the outcomes of patients afflicted with cancer. OnKure's drug candidates aim to treat patients by targeting malignant cells directly, by working in combination with other small molecule therapies and by priming the tumor microenvironment such that checkpoint inhibition is optimized. For more information about OnKure, please visit www.onkuretherapeutics.com.
