Kura Oncology Chief Medical Officer Plans to Step Down Next Month

Kura Oncology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:KURA]]) announced Thursday that its chief medical officer, Antonio Gualberto, would step down on Feb. 7 “to pursue other opportunities.” In a research note, SVB Leerink analyst Jonathan Chang said Gualberto was leaving Kura to take over as head of development at an “large Asian multi-national company,” but didn’t name the company.

The San Diego-based biotech, which is developing precision cancer medicines, said Bridget Martell, its vice president of clinical development, would serve as acting chief medical officer as the company searched for a new CMO. Gualberto will act as an advisor during the transition.

Kura is studying tipifarnib, its lead drug candidate, in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinomas with a specific genetic signature.

Author: Sarah de Crescenzo

Sarah is Xconomy's San Diego-based editor. Prior to joining the team in 2018, she wrote about startups, tech and finance at the San Diego Business Journal. Her decade of full-time news experience includes coverage of subjects including campaign finance, crime and courts as a reporter and editor at outlets throughout California, including the Orange County Register. She earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature at UC San Diego, where she wrote for the student newspaper and played collegiate lacrosse. In 2019, she earned an MBA at UC Irvine.