Exhibit 99.1
Epizyme Announces Executive Appointment and Provides Tazemetostat Clinical Update
Appointment of Jerald Korn as Chief Operating Officer
First Patient Dosed in the Randomized Portion of SYMPHONY-1 (EZH-302), Epizyme’s Phase 1b/3 Confirmatory Study of Tazemetostat in Combination with R2
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 15, 2022 – Epizyme (Nasdaq: EPZM), a fully integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing and delivering transformative therapies for cancer patients against novel epigenetic targets, today announced a clinical update as well as the appointment of Jerald Korn as Chief Operating Officer, reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer, Grant Bogle.
“We are excited to welcome Jerald to Epizyme at a pivotal time for the organization,” said Mr. Bogle. “Jerald’s breadth of experience leading a wide range of functions and working in biotech companies at our stage of development will be a welcomed addition to our senior executive team as we look to drive growth for TAZVERIK® (tazemetostat) as a monotherapy, as well as advance the tazemetostat clinical development program across both hematologic and solid tumor malignancies.”
“I am thrilled to be joining Epizyme at such an important time for the company,” said Mr. Korn. “I have a passion for working in the oncology space and am excited by the opportunity to help execute on the continued launch of TAZVERIK and to fulfill Epizyme’s vision of developing transformative epigenetic medicines. I look forward to working alongside this incredible team as we focus on the strategic priorities where we believe we can make a meaningful impact for people living with cancer.”
With more than 15 years in the biotech industry, Mr. Korn most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel at Kaleido Biosciences, where he oversaw legal, human resources, program management, quality, regulatory and other operations, as well as supporting the company with corporate strategy, including two financings, a pipeline prioritization and transition to a new laboratory and manufacturing facility. Prior to Kaleido, Mr. Korn held several leadership positions at TESARO, as well as senior positions at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals (part of Takeda) and AMAG Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Korn began his career as an associate at the law firm Ropes & Gray and holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Harvard University and a J.D. with honors from Boston University School of Law.
SYMPHONY-1 Clinical Update
Epizyme also reported today that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase 3 portion of the SYMPHONY-1 (EZH-302) study, a confirmatory study assessing tazemetostat in combination with rituximab + lenalidomide (R2) compared with R2 plus placebo in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (R/R FL) previously treated with at least one systemic therapy, including those who are rituximab-refractory and/or have experienced progression of disease within two years.
“Dosing the first patient in the Phase 3 portion of the SYMPHONY-1 study is an important milestone for Epizyme and our clinical development of tazemetostat in R/R FL,” said Dr. Shefali Agarwal, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical and Development Officer at Epizyme. “As we enroll patients in the Phase 3 randomized portion of the study, we plan to continue to report longer term follow-up data from the Phase 1b safety run-in portion of the study as well as data from other combination studies of tazemetostat in both hematological and solid tumor malignancies that we are conducting.”