Blueprint Medicines Welcomes David Schenkein, M.D., to Its Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blueprint Medicines, a company harnessing the understanding of the molecular blueprint of cancer to develop personalized, highly-selective cancer therapies, today announced the addition of David Schenkein, M.D., chief executive officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals, to its board of directors.

“Precision medicine, which is based on an understanding of cancer genomics, biological pathways and biomarkers, is the future of cancer treatment, and Blueprint is at the forefront of advances that will translate into meaningful new medicines for patients”

“I am delighted to welcome David to our board of directors,” said Chris Varma, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Blueprint Medicines. “He brings a wealth of clinical development expertise in oncology as well as strong business experience and acumen as the CEO of Agios. His insight will be incredibly valuable to the team at Blueprint as we strive to transform the current treatment paradigm for cancer and develop truly personalized cancer medicines for patients of high unmet need.”

Dr. Schenkein brings a proven track record in drug development and one of the deepest oncology skill sets in the industry. He has led the development of several first-in-class cancer therapeutics through all stages of development, including the submission and approval of numerous NDAs, sBLAs and INDs. Dr. Schenkein has served as CEO of Agios, the leading biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel drugs in the fields of cancer metabolism and rare metabolic genetic diseases, since 2009. He currently serves as an adjunct attending physician in hematology at Tufts Medical Center and is a member of the board of directors for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Prior to Agios, Dr. Schenkein was senior vice president, clinical hematology/oncology at Genentech with responsibility for leading the medical and scientific strategies for their BioOncology portfolio, as well as overseeing the BioOncology clinical science and medical science liaison functions with a staff of more than 130 people. While at Genentech, Dr. Schenkein was adjunct professor of medicine at the Stanford University Cancer Center. Before his tenure at Genentech, he served as senior vice president of clinical research at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. While there, he led the clinical development of the drug candidate Velcade® (bortezomib), which was approved during his tenure and has since become a blockbuster cancer therapy, significantly helping the lives of cancer patients. Prior to Millennium he was an associate professor and held the position of director of the Cancer Center and Lymphoma Service at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Schenkein holds a B.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University and an M.D. from the State University of New York Upstate Medical School.

“Precision medicine, which is based on an understanding of cancer genomics, biological pathways and biomarkers, is the future of cancer treatment, and Blueprint is at the forefront of advances that will translate into meaningful new medicines for patients,” said Dr. Schenkein. “I look forward to working closely with Chris and the outstanding team at Blueprint Medicines to make the promise of new medicines a reality.”

About Blueprint Medicines

Blueprint Medicines is a patient-driven company building a pipeline of exquisitely selective and tailored next-generation kinase drugs against genetic abnormalities. Using the molecular blueprint of genetically-defined patient populations and a proprietary genomics platform, Blueprint is rapidly identifying novel targets and combinations. Blueprint deploys a library of novel compounds that covers a majority of the human kinome, as highly selective starting points for drug development programs as well as tool compounds. Blueprint Medicines was founded by a proven team, including the developers of Gleevec®, and is backed by leading venture firms, Third Rock Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.blueprintmedicines.com.