Cogent Biosciences Appoints Evan Kearns as Chief Legal Officer

Kearns served as Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of biotech company Agenus Inc. for over six years and began his career as a partner at Goodwin Procter and Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge. About Cogent Biosciences, Inc. Cogent Biosciences is a biotechnology company focused on developing precision therapies for genetically defined diseases. Our most advanced clinical program, CGT9486, is a selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor designed to effectively inhibit the KIT D816V mutation and other mutations in KIT Exon 17. Kit D816V is responsible for systemic mastocytosis, a serious disease caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of mast cells. Exon-17 kit mutations are also found in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), a type of cancer highly dependent on oncogenic KIT signaling. In addition to CGT9486, the new Cogent Research team is developing a portfolio of new targeted therapies to help patients fight serious genetic diseases. Cogent Biosciences is based in Cambridge, MA and Boulder, CO. Visit our website for more information www.cogentbio.com.

Follow Cogent Biosciences on social media: Twitter and LinkedIn. Information that may be important to investors is regularly published on our website and on Twitter. Biotech company Cogent Biosciences, Inc. appointed Evan Kearns as chief legal officer as part of a major restructuring last year that included renaming Unum Therapeutics and hiring a new CEO. Cogent also launched a new research team based in Boulder, Colorado, last month, led by its new chief scientific officer, John Robinson, who previously worked for Covid-19 vaccine maker Pfizer Inc. for 15 years, most recently as vice president of medicinal chemistry. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and BOULDER, Colo., May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Cogent Biosciences, Inc.

(Nasdaq: COGT), a biotechnology company focused on developing precision therapies for genetically defined diseases, today announced the appointment of Evan Kearns as Chief Legal Officer. In his new role, Mr. Kearns will oversee all of Cogent Biosciences` legal operations. Neither Kearns nor Cogent responded immediately to the request for comment on the new recruit. Cogent remains on track with three late-stage clinical trials starting in 2021, including advanced systemic mastocytosis (1H21), non-advanced systemic mastocytosis (2H21) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (2H21). Cogent has a strong cash position to support the company`s objectives until 2024. “I am very excited to join the Cogent Biosciences team,” said Evan Kearns, Chief Legal Officer of Cogent Biosciences. “This is an exciting time for the Company as we include CGT9486 in three clinical trials this year and are expanding our discovery pipeline with the recent creation of the Cogent Research team in Boulder. I look forward to working closely with and advising our talented team as we advance these programs to provide precision therapies to patients with genetic diseases.” “After a detailed review of our operations, opportunities and cash reserves, we believe the decisions announced today are in the best interest of all Unum stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, employees and shareholders,” former company CEO Chuck Wilson said in the statement. Wilson left the company last October. Mr. Kearns joins Cogent with nearly 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Prior to joining Cogent, Mr. Kearns was Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at Agenus Inc., where he led the global biopharmaceutical company through several clinical and preclinical programs. Previously, Mr. Kearns worked in the Boston office of goodwin Procter LLP, where he advised public and private companies on domestic and international transactions, including corporate and securities law matters, mergers, acquisitions and financings, and corporate governance. Cash flows for lease financing are a change in cash flows resulting from the increase or decrease in lease financing. In a March 2020 statement, Cogent said the layoffs and restructurings would allow the company to focus on its primary treatment for solid tumor cancers. The company also said it would end clinical trials of another product candidate in order to conserve resources. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebekah Mintzer of rmintzer@bloomberglaw.com; Chris Opfer at copfer@bloomberglaw.com Cambridge, Mass, Cogent is developing treatments for genetically defined diseases such as cancer, which can result from abnormalities in a person`s DNA.

You`ve already added five actions to your watchlist. Upgrade to MarketBeat Daily Premium to add more stocks to your watch list. “I am pleased to welcome Evan to the Cogent team as Chief Legal Officer,” said Andrew Robbins, President and CEO of Cogent Biosciences. “Evan`s expert advice and proven leadership in advising life sciences companies will be invaluable as we launch several clinical trials of CGT9486 this year while building a pipeline of research into new targeted therapies to help patients fight genetic diseases.” Please log in to your account or log in to add this asset to your watchlist. “I look forward to working closely with and advising our talented team as we advance these programs to provide precision therapies to patients with genetic diseases,” Kearns said in a statement announcing his hiring. To contact the reporter about this story: Ruiqi Chen in Washington, D.C. rchen@bloombergindustry.com Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements relating to: discussion of the Company`s business and operations; expected cash flows; future product development plans and clinical development schedules; future results of clinical trials, including the main program CGT9486 and future research development plans. The use of words such as, but not limited to, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “project”, “should”, “target”, “will” or “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor guarantees of future performance. Instead, they are based on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions about the future of our business, our future plans and strategies, our clinical outcomes, and other future conditions. From time to time, new risks and uncertainties may arise and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties.