Jounce appoints Richard Murray from Merck

US-based oncology specialist Jounce Therapeutics has announced the appointment of Richard Murray to chief executive officer. Dr Murray has more than 20 years of experience in building research and development capabilities in small startups and large pharmaceutical companies. He replaces the interim chief executive, Cary Pfeffer.

Dr Murray joins Jounce from Merck, where his most recent position was senior vice president of biologic and vaccines research, and he was a member of the Merck Research Laboratories leadership team. In these roles, he advanced protein therapeutics and vaccines from discovery through development and manufacturing.

Dr Pfeffer said: “Rich has a strong entrepreneurial spirit coupled with deep experience directing basic and translational research of biologic therapeutics. More specifically, his leadership was instrumental to the successful advancement of Merck’s anti-PD-1 program and recent BLA filing. Rich has the strategic skillset and insight to execute on our long-term vision and propel Jounce into the drug development stage."