Epizyme appoints Robert Bazemore president and CEO
Epizyme, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical R&D company creating novel epigenetic therapeutics for cancer patients, has announced Robert Bazemore will succeed Robert Gould, Ph.D., as president and chief executive officer of Epizyme, effective Sept. 10. Bazemore also will join the Epizyme board of directors. Following the transition, Gould will continue to sit on the board and work as a consultant to the company.
“After successfully transitioning the company from an early-stage, venture-backed startup into a publicly traded development-stage company with a broad research platform, strong balance sheet and experienced leadership team, Robert Gould has worked with the board to identify the right leadership for our next phase of growth,” said David Mott, Epizyme’s lead independent director. “We are excited to introduce Rob Bazemore as our next CEO and believe that his record of success at Synageva, Johnson & Johnson and Merck ideally position him to lead Epizyme. Rob has tremendous experience at the intersection of drug development and commercialization, and in scaling organizations. Rob also has deep expertise in oncology from his time leading Janssen Biotech.”
Prior to joining Epizyme, Bazemore was chief operations officer of Synageva through its acquisition in July 2015 by Alexion for $8.4 billion. At Synageva, Bazemore was responsible for establishing the company’s global commercial and medical organization to support the first product launch, as well as for leading the broader transition to a sustainable commercial enterprise. Previously, Bazemore spent 12 years in various leadership roles at several Johnson & Johnson operating businesses including Ethicon, Janssen Biotech, Centocor Ortho Biotech and Centocor. He has extensive experience leading pipeline strategy, business development, new product planning and development, marketing and broad global commercial strategy.
Bazemore was president of Janssen Biotech, an immunology and oncology business with more than $7 billion in revenues. At Janssen, he led the integration of the Ortho Biotech and Centocor businesses. He led the commercial partnership with Pharmacyclics, which successfully launched the novel hematological malignancy product IMBRUVICA, and he was instrumental in the integration of Cougar Biotechnology, subsequently leading the successful launch of another novel oncology product, Zytiga. Previously, Bazemore spent 11 years at Merck in various marketing, medical affairs and field sales leadership roles.