Nilotinib Hydrochloride

Mr. Epstein brings more than 30 years of global drug development and commercialization experience to support Frontier’s next phase of growth as it continues to advance its pipeline of covalent precision medicines BOSTON & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frontier Medicines Corporation, a clinical-stage precision medicines company unlocking the proteome to develop small molecule oncology and immunology drugs against previously undruggable disease-causing targets, today announced the appointment of David R. Epstein to its board of directors. Mr. Epstein currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Ottimo Pharma and was most recently chief executive officer of Seagen, where he led the company through a period of significant growth and innovation, culminating in its acquisition by Pfizer in 2023. “David is a transformative leader with an exceptional track record of building and scaling innovative biopharmaceutical organizations,” said Chris Varma, Ph.D., co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Frontier Medicines. “His deep expertise across oncology, global drug development and commercialization will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline, continue to expand the reach of the Frontier Platform and work to develop breakthrough medicines for patients.” Mr. Epstein is a highly accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with more than three decades of experience spanning drug discovery, development, commercialization and strategic transactions. During his career, Mr. Epstein has played a central role in the development and commercialization of more than 30 new molecular entities and over 100 approved indications, including breakthrough medicines such as Gleevec, Tasigna, Gilenya, Afinitor, Cosentyx, Padcev and Entresto. He previously served as chief executive officer of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, a division of Novartis AG. Prior to this, David started and led Novartis’ Oncology and Molecular Diagnostic units, and under his leadership, the company’s oncology business grew to the second largest in the world. He currently serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies, including Valo Health, Agomab and Tempus AI, and brings extensive experience supporting both established and emerging companies. “Frontier Medicines is working to redefine what’s possible in drug discovery with a pipeline of potentially best-in-class programs, including FMC-242, an allosteric breaker of the PI3Kα-RAS interaction, and FMC-376, a KRAS G12C ON and OFF inhibitor with promising clinical data,” said Mr. Epstein. “Supported by a platform that integrates covalent chemistry and AI to expand the reach of precision medicine, Frontier is well positioned to make a meaningful impact for patients. I look forward to advancing this work alongside the company’s experienced leadership team.” About the Frontier™ Platform The Frontier™ Platform integrates chemoproteomics, artificial intelligence, and direct-to-biology approaches to accelerate the discovery and development of precision covalent medicines. The platform maps covalent binding sites across the proteome, identifies actionable ligands, and enables rapid optimization of compounds into clinical candidates. Years of systematic data generation have produced CoGT™ (the Covalent Ground Truth), which powers Frontier’s CovalentAI™ engine, a component of the Frontier™ Platform and an AI engine that characterizes and scores binding sites for covalent drug discovery, optimizes compounds, and guides the design of Frontier’s proprietary covalent fragment library. Profiling this library against the human proteome has yielded Frontier’s Druggability Atlas™, covering more than 90% of the human proteome. About Frontier Medicines Frontier Medicines is a clinical-stage precision medicines company pioneering groundbreaking medicines to transform treatment for genetically defined patient populations, starting with oncology and immunology. Our proprietary chemoproteomics-powered drug discovery engine, the Frontier™ Platform, leverages covalent chemistry and artificial intelligence to unlock difficult-to-drug, disease-causing proteins for drug development. Today, we are advancing a diversified pipeline of wholly owned precision medicines against the most critical drivers of cancer and high-value immunology programs. For more information, please visit . Follow Frontier on LinkedIn . Contacts Media Contacts Frontier Medicines: Ashlea Kosikowski (1AB) (704) 488-7369 pr@frontiermeds.com

Novartis has been steadily dialing back its U.S. workforce in recent years. Novartis is making further workforce reductions at its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey, planning to eliminate 114 positions as the drugmaker rejigs its sales team for rare-disease medicines.The Swiss pharma telegraphed the layoffs in a recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing (PDF) to the state, with the cuts slated to take effect from late June to November. “[O]ur US Customer Engagement organization has been evaluating opportunities to evolve our field sales team structures to better support the unique needs of patients and customers in the rare and ultra-rare disease spaces—where Novartis has a strong footprint and focus with in-market products and upcoming pivotal launches,” a Novartis spokesperson told Fierce Pharma. “To that end, we are making some organizational changes that result in some roles being eliminated, modified, and created.”  The adjustment marks the latest in a series of layoffs at Novartis, which can be traced all the way back to a major reorganization launched in 2022. Novartis offers several drugs in the rare disease space. These include chronic myeloid leukemia therapy Tasigna and Promacta for treating low blood platelet counts in certain patients, including those with the rare blood disorders chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and aplastic anemia. The two meds, together with the megablockbuster heart failure treatment Entresto, form the largest single-year patent cliff in Novartis’ history, presenting a notable challenge for the company in 2026.Novartis is also managing a few new rare disease launches in the autoimmune field, including Rhapsido for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). It’s additionally rolling out two rare kidney disease therapies, Vanrafia and Fabhalta, in IgA nephropathy. Further, the dual-mechanism, B-cell-depleting antibody ianalumab is nearing the market after a pair of phase 3 wins in Sjögren’s, while a first-line ITP pivotal readout is expected this year. “Novartis continually assesses opportunities to adapt in alignment with our evolving pipeline, patient, and customer needs. As such, we direct our efforts and talent toward areas where we can create the greatest potential impact for patients and customers,” the company spokesperson said.  Novartis has made multiple cuts tied to its New Jersey HQ in the past few years. In September, it laid out a plan to lay off 58 employees in its U.S. medical affairs organization, following another overhaul of its cardiovascular commercial structure that affected 427 employees.The Swiss pharma has been steadily dialing back its U.S. workforce in recent years. Coinciding with the separation of the biosimilars and generics unit Sandoz, Novartis’ U.S. headcount, measured by full-time equivalents, dropped by nearly 12% year over year to 12,846 in 2023. As of the end of last year, the company had 12,556 full-time employees stateside. Globally, Novartis is only one of two large pharma companies that have consistently slimmed down every year between 2021 and 2025, according to a recent Fierce Pharma analysis.  While its U.S. commercial team and general and administrative functions have become smaller, Novartis beefed up its manufacturing headcount by 25% last year to 1,479 people. Following an industry-wide trend to avoid potential pharmaceutical tariffs by the Trump administration, Novartis last year unveiled a $23 billion investment to grow its U.S. footprint in production and R&D.