CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Jan. 5, 2017 – Nimbus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company applying deep computational chemistry expertise throughout drug discovery and development, today announced that Mark Ashwell, Ph.D., has joined the company as the Head of Chemistry. The appointment further expands Nimbus’ core development capabilities and bolsters the senior leadership team as the company works to advance multiple promising pipeline candidates toward clinical-stage development. As Head of Chemistry, Dr. Ashwell’s responsibilities include maximizing Nimbus’ unique relationship with founding partner Schrödinger while also integrating new technologies and collaborators into Nimbus’ cutting-edge platform and approach to drug discovery, helping to realize Nimbus’ vision of creating breakthroughs by design while tackling tough targets like Tyk2, STING and others in the Nimbus pipeline.
An accomplished R&D leader, Dr. Ashwell served as the long-time Head of Chemistry at ArQule, where he led eight drug candidates from discovery and early development into clinical-stage testing, in cancer and rare diseases. Furthermore, he was an inventor of the ArQule Kinase Inhibition Technology Platform, the company’s discovery engine, which yielded product opportunities that led to productive R&D partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies.
“Mark is a terrific addition to our high-performing team, whose technical expertise and entrepreneurial vision will help drive our continued success discovering and developing novel therapies for some of the most promising targets in drug development,” said Don Nicholson, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Nimbus. “Building on the strong foundation laid by our founding Head of Chemistry, Dr. Ron Wester, Mark will work alongside our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Rosana Kapeller, and Head of Preclinical Research and Early Development, Dr. Wes Westlin, to accelerate our next breakthroughs in discovery.”
Nimbus also announced today that Dr. Wester has assumed the role of senior emeritus advisor and will remain with Nimbus to support Dr. Ashwell. Dr. Wester established the chemistry function at Nimbus and has made strong contributions across the entire portfolio. “Ron has made an indelible mark on our organization, and we are deeply grateful for his valuable, ongoing contributions to the company,” Dr.
Nicholson added.
In addition to his experience at ArQule, Dr. Ashwell has served as a consultant to numerous drug development teams in industry and academia across a wide range of areas that included oncology drug development, medicinal chemistry, structure-based drug discovery and intellectual property creation. Earlier in his career, he worked as a researcher at Wyeth and as an NIH-funded World Health Organization consultant.
Dr. Ashwell holds a doctorate in organic chemistry and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, both from the University of Birmingham in the U.K., and completed two postdoctoral research fellowships. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed research papers and is listed as an inventor on 50 U.S.-granted patents and more than 30 international filings.
About Nimbus Therapeutics
Nimbus Therapeutics is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). With its breakthrough computational chemistry platform, enabled through its privileged partnership with co-founder, Schrödinger, Inc., Nimbus is pioneering the application of computational chemistry to design treatments for substantial and underserved human diseases. The company’s focus on metabolic diseases, cancer and immune-inflammatory disorders reflects the mechanistic relationship between these disorders, and Nimbus’ ability to rapidly tackle well validated targets as well as those that have proven intractable to the approaches taken by others in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Nimbus’ approach results in therapeutic candidates with high potency, selectivity and other desirable drug-like properties. To learn more, please visit www.nimbustx.com.