CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blueprint Medicines, a patient-driven oncology company developing highly selective kinase inhibitors for genomically-defined cancer subsets, today announced the appointment of Kyle Kuvalanka to chief business officer. In this role, Mr. Kuvalanka will lead the company’s business development, strategy, investor relations and finance activities.
“During the past two years since our launch, we have been focused on building and refining our platform to enable the rapid development of potent, highly selective compounds against clear genomic driver targets,” said Alexis Borisy, chief executive officer of Blueprint Medicines. “With the addition of Kyle, we are further solidifying our leadership team and gaining key expertise to support our evolving business. Kyle’s insight will be invaluable as we aim to identify strategic partnering opportunities and bring two to three programs to the clinic by the end of 2015.”
Mr. Kuvalanka brings to Blueprint nearly 20 years of business and strategy experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He joins Blueprint after more than 11 years at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company (including his time at Millennium prior to the acquisition by Takeda), where he most recently served as vice president, business development and corporate strategy. In this role, he was a member of the global oncology management team and portfolio review committee, and led the overall strategic-planning process for the therapeutic area with annual revenues in excess of $2 billion and a broad pipeline of novel therapies. As the leader and previously as a member of the global oncology business development team, Mr. Kuvalanka successfully identified and structured R&D and commercial-stage strategic business relationships and led the negotiations of multiple licensing and collaboration agreements. Earlier in his career at Millennium, Mr. Kuvalanka held leadership positions in finance and led the investor relations effort until the company’s acquisition by Takeda. Prior to Millennium, Mr. Kuvalanka worked in strategy consulting for biopharmaceutical companies. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Wharton Business School.
“I feel honored to join Blueprint's team of legendary scientific founders and researchers,” said Mr. Kuvalanka. “Based on their years of experience in kinase research, this world-class team has created a truly differentiated discovery platform which has the potential to rapidly advance highly-selective, next-generation kinase inhibitors to the market with the ultimate goal of transforming outcomes for patients with genetically driven cancers. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build Blueprint’s business to achieve this mission and in doing so generate value for our partners and shareholders.”
About Blueprint Medicines
Blueprint Medicines is a patient-driven oncology company developing highly selective kinase inhibitors for genomically-defined cancer subsets. Led by a management team and advisors with world-renowned expertise in cancer genomics, drug discovery and clinical oncology, Blueprint has developed a platform that combines genomics with a novel library of kinase inhibitors, enabling Blueprint to rapidly develop potent highly selective compounds against clear genomic driver targets. Founded in 2011, Blueprint is privately held and backed by Third Rock Ventures and Fidelity BioSciences. For more information, please visit BlueprintMedicines.com.
