H. Jack West, MD, Renowned Oncologist & Lung Cancer Expert, Joins Summit Therapeutics as Vice President of Clinical Development
Dr. West Brings over 25 Years of Trusted Clinical Expertise in Thoracic Oncology
Menlo Park, California, October 19, 2023 – Summit Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SMMT) (“Summit,” “we,” or the “Company”) today announced that Howard “Jack” West, MD, has joined Summit Therapeutics as Vice President of Clinical Development focused on lung cancer.
“Dr. West brings a wealth of experience, and his knowledge in treating lung cancer patients is unrivaled,” stated Dr. Maky Zanganeh, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. “To bring a key lung cancer expert the stature of Dr. West speaks volumes about Team Summit and our mission to make a significant, positive difference in the lives of patients facing this terrible disease. We are thrilled to welcome Jack to our team.”
Dr. West joins Summit from City of Hope, one of the nation’s leading cancer treatment and research centers. At City of Hope, he was the Vice President of Network Strategy at AccessHope, an enterprise that provides remote expertise from cancer sub-specialists for patients around the US, as well as an Associate Professor and practicing medical oncologist. Dr. West brings over 25 years of experience as a practicing thoracic oncologist. Prior to joining City of Hope, Dr. West spent over 15 years at Providence Health & Services, including time as the Medical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program. As a practicing physician, Dr. West has been a principal investigator in over 20 clinical trials in lung cancer. Dr. West is also the Founder and former President of GRACE, the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education and the President of Go West Health Care Consulting, providing in depth knowledge about current and emerging cancer treatments. He has been responsible for publishing treatment guidelines and medical provider point-of-care resource guides such as Medscape and UpToDate. Dr. West earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, was the Howard Hughes Medical Student Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, and did his medical oncology fellowship training at the University of Washington Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
“Bolstering our team with someone with the breadth and depth of experience and expertise such as Jack West is an honor for me and Team Summit,” added Dr. Allen S. Yang, Chief Medical Officer at Summit. “Dr. West is a respected thoracic oncology expert who has worked with nearly every treatment in lung cancer over the past 25 years – whether through providing patient care, leading clinical trials, or disseminating treatment guidance. His stature and expertise are valued resources as we continue to advance and develop our novel, potentially first-in-class bispecific antibody, ivonescimab*.”
“Throughout my career, in addition to caring for patients, I have focused on providing knowledge and access to the best possible care in the particularly challenging field of thoracic oncology,” noted Dr. West. “While treatment options have advanced greatly over the past 25 years, every lung cancer clinic illustrates the ongoing need for additional advances. The opportunity to work with an outstanding team at Summit, contributing to the development of ivonescimab, an investigational product with great potential, offers me a new path to improving the lives of patients.”
*Ivonescimab is an investigational therapy that is not approved by any regulatory agency.
Summit Therapeutics’ Mission Statement
To build a viable, long-lasting health care organization that assumes full responsibility for designing, developing, trial execution and enrollment, regulatory submission and approval, and successful commercialization of patient, physician, caregiver, and societal-friendly medicinal therapy intended to: improve quality of life, increase potential duration of life, and resolve serious medical healthcare needs. To identify and control promising product candidates based on exceptional scientific development and administrational expertise, develop our products in a rapid, cost-efficient manner, and to engage commercialization and/or development partners when appropriate.
We accomplish this by building a team of world class professional scientists and business administrators that apply their experience and knowledge to this mission. Team Summit exists to pose, strategize, and execute a path forward in medicinal therapeutic health care that places Summit in a well-deserved, top market share, leadership position. Team Summit assumes full responsibility for stimulating continuous expansion of knowledge, ability, capability, and well-being for all involved stakeholders and highly-valued shareholders.
About Ivonescimab
Ivonescimab, known as SMT112 in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan (Summit’s license territories), and as AK112 in China and Australia, is a novel, potential first-in-class investigational bispecific antibody combining the effects of immunotherapy via a blockade of PD-1 with the anti-angiogenesis effects associated with blocking VEGF into a single molecule. Ivonescimab was discovered by Akeso Inc. (HKEX Code: 9926.HK) and is currently engaged in multiple Phase III clinical trials. Summit has begun its clinical development of ivonescimab in NSCLC, enrolling the first patient in its license territory in 2023, with multiple Phase III clinical trials intended to be initiated in 2023. Over 825 patients have been treated with ivonescimab in clinical studies in China and Australia, with enrollment beginning recently in the United States.
About Summit Therapeutics
Summit was founded in 2003 and our shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (symbol ‘SMMT’). We are headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and we have additional offices in Oxford, UK.
For more information, please visit https://www.smmttx.com and follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @summitplc.
Contact Summit Investor Relations:
Dave Gancarz
Chief Business & Strategy Officer
investors@smmttx.com
Summit Forward-looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about the Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including but not limited to, statements about the clinical and preclinical development of the Company’s product candidates, entry into and actions related to the Company’s partnership with Akeso Inc., the therapeutic potential of the Company’s product candidates, the potential commercialization of the Company’s product candidates, the timing of initiation, completion and availability of data from clinical trials, the potential submission of applications for marketing approvals, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s operations and clinical trials, potential acquisitions and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the results of our evaluation of the underlying data in connection with the development and commercialization activities for SMT112, the outcome of discussions with regulatory authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of future clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials, the results of such trials, and their success, and global public health crises, including the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, that may affect timing and status of our clinical trials and operations, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials or preclinical studies will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, whether business development opportunities to expand the Company’s pipeline of drug candidates, including without limitation, through potential acquisitions of, and/or collaborations with, other entities occur, expectations for regulatory approvals, laws and regulations affecting government contracts and funding awards, availability of funding sufficient for the Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of filings that the Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any change to our ongoing trials could cause delays, affect our future expenses, and add uncertainty to our commercialization efforts, as well as to affect the likelihood of the successful completion of clinical development of SMT112. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.
