SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VelosBio Inc. (“VelosBio”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel, first-in-class cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), today announced the appointment of Dr. Enoch Kariuki as Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Kariuki will lead all finance-related and investor relations functions at the Company.
Dr. Kariuki is a highly accomplished finance executive with extensive experience in healthcare strategy, life sciences investment banking, venture capital and business development. Prior to joining VelosBio, Dr. Kariuki served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Synthorx, Inc., where he led the company’s $151 million initial public offering, managed relationships with bankers, sell-side equity analysts and investors, and led the business development process that concluded with the successful sale of Synthorx to Sanofi for $2.5 billion.
Prior to joining Synthorx, Dr. Kariuki was Vice President at H.I.G. Capital, where he led investments into, and served on boards of, several life sciences companies. His roles prior to H.I.G. include Senior Associate at Leerink Partners and Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank. At Leerink and UBS, Dr. Kariuki advised healthcare companies on equity capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and recapitalizations.
“Enoch brings to VelosBio more than 10 years of experience leading high-performing teams in the private and public sectors. He has a proven track record of success on both the operating and finance sides of our industry, and is precisely the type of high quality individual we are recruiting as we grow our company,” said Dave Johnson, Chief Executive Officer at VelosBio. “He will be an invaluable asset to VelosBio and our leadership team as we advance our clinical pipeline focused on ROR1-directed therapeutics.”
“I am excited to join VelosBio at such a dynamic time. The company is developing multiple cancer therapies utilizing its proprietary technology to target ROR1, a novel oncology target, and I look forward to working with Dave and the rest of the senior management and scientific teams to help bring innovative therapies to cancer patients,” said Enoch Kariuki, PharmD, Chief Financial Officer at VelosBio.
Dr. Kariuki completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in R&D Strategy and Analytics at Bristol-Myers Squibb and was a practicing pharmacist before transitioning to industry. He holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a PharmD from Texas Southern University.
About VelosBio
VelosBio Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel, first-in-class, ROR1-directed therapeutics to transform the lives of patients with cancer. Its lead candidate, VLS-101, is a ROR1-directed ADC being developed for patients with hematologic and solid tumor malignancies. The Company is developing a broad pipeline of ROR1-directed therapeutics in oncologic indications with high unmet medical need. VelosBio is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, please visit www.velosbio.com
