21 March 2019 - - US-based drug developer Forma Therapeutics has appointed Frank D. Lee as chief executive officer, starting on March 27, 2019, the company said.

Lee succeeds Steve Tregay, Ph.D., who after more than a decade as founder and CEO, will transition to the role of senior advisor to the CEO.

Lee, an industry veteran and champion for patients, joins Forma with over 25 years of global experience in product development and commercial leadership across a range of therapeutic areas within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.

Most recently, Lee served as senior vice president, Global Product Strategy and Therapeutic Area Head for the Immunology, Ophthalmology and Infectious Diseases at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.

Lee's thirteen-year career at Genentech included leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility for delivering transformative medicines to patients.

Most recently, as senior vice president, Global Product Strategy, he was responsible for driving development and commercial strategy for a portfolio of molecules in development and for global in-line product sales of more than USD 11bn.

Previously, as vice president of the HER2/Breast Cancer Franchise, Lee was responsible for the US P and L for Herceptin, Perjeta and Kadcyla, driving revenues over USD 4bn and launching the first HER2 neoadjuvant indication shaping a new market and treatment paradigm for early HER2 breast cancer patients.

As vice president of Oral Oncolytics, Lee held P and L responsibility for Tarceva, Zelboraf, Erivedge and Xeloda, advancing personalised medicine for cancer patients with EGFR+ NSCLC and BRAF+ melanoma, and establishing a new treatment option for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma.

Other roles at Genentech included Franchise Head, Transplant and Tamiflu as well as director of Marketing for Ophthalmology and Respiratory.

Prior to joining Genentech, Lee spent approximately 13 years across Novartis, Janssen and Eli Lilly in engineering, manufacturing, sales/marketing and business development.

He previously served on the board of the Genentech Foundation.

Forma Therapeutics develops medicines addressing oncology, inflammation, neurodegeneration and other serious diseases.

The company's R and D team drives discovery and clinical development of therapeutics for qualified targets in the areas of epigenetics, protein homeostasis and metabolism.