Xencor, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases announced the appointment of Barbara J. Klencke, M.D., to its board of directors. Dr. Klencke has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical product development experience, and she most recently served as chief medical officer and chief development officer at Sierra Oncology through mid-2023. While at Sierra Oncology, she built a highly effective clinical development organization and led its strategy and execution, culminating in the approval of Ojjaara™ for myelofibrosis following the company’s acquisition by GSK.
“Dr. Klencke is a world-class, patient-focused research and development expert, who has a successful track record in development and early commercialization of several medicines approved for the treatment of patients with cancer. We look forward to benefitting from the tremendous amount of experience and additional perspective she brings to Xencor, as we advance our pipeline of XmAb® drug candidates across multiple solid tumor types,” said Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer at Xencor.
Before joining Sierra Oncology in 2015, Dr. Klencke served as senior vice president of global development at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where she led development and execution for Onyx’s pipeline programs, including the approval of Kyprolis® for multiple myeloma, through the company’s acquisition by Amgen. Between 2003 and 2011, she served as a group medical director at Genentech, where she led product development strategies for several early- and late-stage oncology programs, including Kadcyla®, Avastin® and Tarceva®. Earlier in her career, Dr. Klencke was an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she focused on clinical research in oncology. Dr. Klencke also serves on the Boards of Directors of eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Immune-Onc Therapeutics and TScan Therapeutics. Dr. Klencke earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University and an M.D. from the University of California, Davis. She completed her internal medicine residency and a hematology and oncology fellowship at UCSF.
Ojjaara™ is a trademark of the GSK group of companies. Kyprolis® is a registered trademark of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Kadcyla®, Avastin® and Tarceva® are registered trademarks of Genentech, Inc.
Source: Xencor
