29 April 2020 - - US-based biopharmaceutical company Forma Therapeutics, Inc has appointed David N. Cook, Ph.D., to a leadership team as senior vice president and chief scientific officer, the company said.

Cook is a scientist and entrepreneur who has held senior operating and management positions in the biotechnology industry for more than 25 years. In this new role, Dave will oversee the company's biology, translational sciences, medicinal chemistry and DMPK and toxicology teams.

Cook's previous experiences notably at Cerus Corp. where he worked in transfusion medicine and blood safety, as well as his work in the discovery and development of oncology drugs resonate with Forma's pipeline. Prior to joining Forma, Dave served as chief scientific officer for Seres Therapeutics.

He played a key role in the strategy and fundraising in the microbiome field for Seres, and he was integral to the translation to the clinic of drugs for C. difficile, irritable bowel disease and immuno-oncology.

Prior to Seres, he was the chief operating officer for The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, a global not-for-profit R and D organization whose mission is to develop a globally accessible HIV vaccine.

Cook was also the founding CEO at Anza Therapeutics, a start-up company developing a novel microbial vaccine platform to induce cellular immune responses to fight or prevent cancer and chronic infections, among other previous roles. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Forma Therapeutics is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of transformative medicines for patients with rare hematologic diseases and cancers.