Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ: BPMC), a leader in discovering and developing targeted kinase medicines for patients with genomically defined diseases, today announced the appointment of Christopher Murray, Ph.D. as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations. Dr. Murray will join the executive management team and be responsible for technical development, manufacturing and supply chain operations.
"We are thrilled to welcome Chris to Blueprint Medicines. Chris has more than two decades of strategic and operational experience in pharmaceutical sciences, and he has successfully led manufacturing operations for multiple product candidates through development, regulatory review and commercial launch," said Jeff Albers, Chief Executive Officer of Blueprint Medicines. "As we expand clinical activities for our lead product candidates and develop plans to address potential future commercial supply needs, Chris will lead the effort to strategically enhance our manufacturing capabilities across the portfolio."
Dr. Murray joins Blueprint Medicines with over 25 years of commercial and clinical manufacturing experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Dr. Murray served as Vice President, Technical Operations at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARIAD) from January 2014 to May 2017. In this role, Dr. Murray oversaw all aspects of commercial and clinical manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, process development, quality control and analytical chemistry for ARIAD's approved products and product candidates, including Iclusig® (ponatinib) and Alunbrig® (brigatinib). From 2004 to December 2013, Dr. Murray held multiple roles of increasing responsibility at ARIAD related to process development, manufacturing and clinical supply. Prior to joining ARIAD, Dr. Murray served in various positions with Allos Therapeutics, Inc. and Hauser Inc. related to clinical and commercial manufacturing and supply of active pharmaceutical ingredient. Dr. Murray holds a B.S. from Hope College with a major in chemistry and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago.
"I'm excited to join Blueprint Medicines at this pivotal moment as the company begins to plan for commercial readiness," said Dr. Murray. "With compelling data sets for two product candidates and a growing pipeline of differentiated assets, Blueprint Medicines has the potential to become the leading developer of highly selective kinase medicines."
About Blueprint Medicines
Blueprint Medicines is developing a new generation of targeted and potent kinase medicines to improve the lives of patients with genomically defined diseases. Its approach is rooted in a deep understanding of the genetic blueprint of cancer and other diseases driven by the abnormal activation of kinases. Blueprint Medicines is advancing four programs in clinical development for subsets of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, hepatocellular carcinoma, systemic mastocytosis, non-small cell lung cancer, medullary thyroid cancer and other advanced solid tumors, as well as multiple programs in research and preclinical development. For more information, please visit www.blueprintmedicines.com.
