Flare Therapeutics names Amit Rakhit as president and CEO

US discoverer of precision medicines for cancer and other diseases, Flare Therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Amit Rakhit as president and chief executive.

Dr Rakhit has over 20 years of life sciences leadership experience and joins at a pivotal time as Flare transitions into a clinical-stage company. He succeeds interim CEO Abbie Celniker, a partner at Third Rock Ventures, who will continue to serve as chairman.

“Flare’s pioneering approach to drugging transcription factors stands to profoundly impact medical practice globally for people living with cancer and other difficult to treat diseases. I am excited to join such a dynamic and experienced leadership team at this important inflection point for the company,” said Dr Rakhit. “The team’s swift progress in identifying dozens of novel druggable pockets, or ‘switch sites’, within therapeutic transcription factor targets of interest and rapid advancement of the lead precision oncology program both inspired my belief in Flare and compelled me to join to help catapult the company into its next stage of growth,” he added.