Targeting validated drivers of cancer, Nima Farzan, CEO, Kinnate Biopharma

Synopsis: Nima Farzan is the CEO of Kinnate Biopharma, a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on expanding on the promise of targeted therapies for those battling cancer. The company is developing medicines for known oncogenic drivers where there are no approved targeted drugs. Having started his biotech career in the late 90s, Nima discusses how his vision of leadership has evolved over the years. He talks about joining Kinnate in March of 2020 and the challenges of running the company and growing the team during a pandemic. He dives into the evolution of genomics over the last several years and what has surprised and impressed him about the genomic ecosystem as a whole. He discusses where Kinnate is from a development perspective and how he thinks about indication selection. Finally, he talks about how being an immigrant has shaped his approach to team building, culture and leadership style. Biography: Nima brings over two decades of executive leadership experience in the biopharma industry to our team. Prior to joining us, Nima spent seven years at PaxVax, where he was most recently President and CEO. While there, he successfully led a team of 250 people through a number of commercial product launches and negotiated the sale of PaxVax to Emergent BioSolutions in 2018. Prior to PaxVax, he was at Novartis AG in a series of roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Vice President of US Marketing at Novartis’ Vaccines and Diagnostics division. Prior to Novartis, Nima worked at DoubleTwist, a pioneering genomics company, and was a consultant with Boston Consulting Group. He was a member of the founding Board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). He is on the Executive Committee of the Northern California Chapter of Young President’s Organization (YPO) and a Trustee at the Hamlin School. He is also a Director of Keros Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KROS). He holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.