Aptose Biosciences Inc. announced the appointment of Philippe Ledru to the position of Chief Commercial Officer. In this role, Mr. Ledru is responsible for providing executive leadership and vision for commercial development and marketing strategies for the future commercial launches of Aptose's innovative oncology medicines and to consolidate responsibilities over business development and licensing. Mr. Ledru brings to Aptose more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in the U.S. and Europe, including innovative drug development and commercial and strategic experience at two top global oncology companies.

Most recently, he served as Associate Vice President and Head of Oncology New Products at Merck & Co, where he was responsible for commercial leadership over the entire Merck oncology pipeline, over 25 assets from discovery to mid-stage clinical development, across major solid tumors and hematological malignancies. At Merck, he also provided leadership on all licensing and M&A activities, including the Peloton Therapeutics and Arqule acquisitions in 2019. Prior, Mr. Ledru spent a 20+ year career at Novartis in the U.S. and France, most recently as Senior Director of Early Commercial Strategy focused on oncology products.

There he also was part of the brand team and had early commercial development and global marketing responsibilities for several new compounds, including midostaurin. Earlier at Novartis Oncologie, he helped lead launches of several oncology products, including imatinib (Gleevec), a landmark drug that has greatly improved the outcomes of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Mr. Ledru also held oncology product management and business development positions at Zeneca Pharma France/ICI Pharma.

Separately, Aptose announced that Dr. Jotin Marango, Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer, is resigning to pursue another opportunity. Dr. Rice will serve as Chief Accounting Officer, and with Ms. Janet Clennett, Vice President of Finance, will assume financial responsibilities until a permanent CFO is announced. Aptose and Dr. Marango plan to enter into an advisory agreement to ensure a smooth transition from his CFO duties.