14 March 2023 - - US-based biotechnology company Rome Therapeutics has appointed Keith Wilcoxen, Ph.D., as executive vice president, Early Development, the company said.

Dr. Wilcoxen is a translational leader with more than 25 years of experience advancing new therapies through preclinical and early clinical development, most recently as senior vice president, Global Research, at Zenas BioPharma, an autoimmune-focused biotechnology company.

Dr. Wilcoxen's career spans more than two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry.

He joins Rome from Zenas BioPharma where he served as senior vice president, Global Research, overseeing all pre-clinical and translational activities for a portfolio of autoimmune therapeutic candidates.

Prior to joining Zenas, Dr. Wilcoxen was vice president of Diligence and Non-Clinical Development, followed by vice president of Translational Research at Boston Pharmaceuticals where he was a core member of the Research and Development leadership team.

In previous roles at Tesaro, culminating in the role of Executive director and Head of Strategic Drug Hunting Partnerships, Preclinical Research, Dr. Wilcoxen supported three Investigational New Drug submissions, including for cancer therapies TSR-011, Jemperli (dostarlimab) and cobolimab, and New Drug Application submissions for cancer therapies Varubi (rolapitant) and Zejula (niraparib).

He previously held roles of increasing responsibility with Eisai, Neurocrine Biosciences and Pfizer. Dr. Wilcoxen holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Scripps Research Institute and a B.A. in chemistry from Northwestern University.

Rome Therapeutics is developing novel therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer by illuminating the role of the dark genome in human health and disease.

Leveraging the company's unprecedented data sciences platform, Rome has built a deep pipeline of therapies targeting the dark genome.

To lead this exploration, Rome has assembled a team of world-class leaders across immunology, oncology, virology and machine learning. Rome is based in Boston, Mass.