Merus appoints Fabian Zohren, Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy, as Chief Medical Officer

UTRECHT, the Netherlands and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 1, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Merus NV (Nasdaq: MRUS) (Merus, the company, we or our), a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, fully multispecific antibodies (Biclonics^® and Triclonika^®), today announced the appointment of Fabian Zohren, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), effective July 1, 2024. Andrew Joe, MD will step down as CMO and continue to serve as a consultant for the next three months. Additionally, effective July 1, Hui Liu, Ph.D., EVP, Chief Business Officer and Head of Merus US, is leaving Merus. The company has started searching for a successor to the position of business development director.

“I am pleased to welcome Fabian Zohren to Merus as our new CMO and am confident that his proven clinical development skills and experience in late-stage registrational studies will prove invaluable as we plan to initiate two Phase 3 studies of petosemtamab in 2024 and continue to advance a development strategy that maximizes the opportunities for patients with this important clinical candidate,” said Bill Lundberg, MD, President and CEO of Merus. “I am grateful for Andrew’s leadership, particularly in guiding our most advanced clinical candidate, Zeno, through clinical development, which resulted in two Breakthrough Therapy designations and acceptance of our first biologics license application under Priority Review for NRG1+ non-small cell lung and NRG1+ pancreatic cancer – a key milestone in the evolution of our company. Andrew has also played a key role in guiding the development of petosemtamab through Phase 1/2 studies, achieving Breakthrough Therapy Designation and planning the Phase 3 studies, and I am grateful that he has agreed to remain an advisor during this important milestone at Merus.”

Dr. Fabian Zohren is a proven late-stage clinical development expert who joins Merus from ImmunoGen, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer from November 2023 until its acquisition by AbbVie in May 2024. Prior to ImmunoGen, Dr. Zohren was with Pfizer from 2017 to 2023, where he most recently served as Global Clinical Development Leader for Prostate Cancer and DNA Repair.^® (enzalutamide) and Talzenna^® (talazoparib) with oversight of two clinical programs with >8,000 treated patients and 8 global Phase 3 registration studies in prostate and breast cancer. Earlier in his career at Pfizer, he was senior medical director and global clinical leader for prostate cancer and gynecologic malignancies. He joins Pfizer from Millennium Pharmaceuticals/Takeda, where since 2012 he was senior medical director and early clinical development leader for their Cell Signaling franchise. Dr. Zohren received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Düsseldorf and was a research fellow at Baylor College of Medicine in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy.

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“I would also like to thank Hui for all of his contributions to Merus over the years,” said Bill Lundberg, MD, president, CEO of Merus. “In his role as Chief Business Officer, Hui has played a pivotal role in the history of Merus – instrumental in securing the foundational collaborative platforms that were critical to funding our company in its earlier stages. And as Merus’ first U.S. employee and head of Merus US, he painstakingly established the U.S. office and helped grow the Merus US team to approximately 50 employees. Over the course of four and a half years, Hui has built and led a top-notch finance team that is well-positioned to support Merus’ future growth.”

About Merus NV
Merus is a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, fully functional human bispecific and trispecific antibodies, known as Multiclonics drugs.^®.Multi-clonic^® are manufactured using standard industrial processes and have been observed in preclinical and clinical studies to have several of the same characteristics as conventional human monoclonal antibodies, such as long half-life and low immunogenicity. Additional information can be found on the Merus website, https://twitter.com/MerusNV.

Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to historical matters should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the contributions that Dr. Zohren will make contributions to the Company, including regarding the Company’s plan to initiate two Phase 3 studies in 2024 for petosemtamab and continue to develop a development strategy that maximizes the potential opportunities this important clinical candidate may have for patients; the adoption of our first Biologics License Application under Priority Review for NRG1+ Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and NRG1+ Pancreatic Cancer, whether it may be approved and what its impact will be on the Company. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations. These statements are not promises or guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied. in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our need for additional financing, which may not be available and which may require us to limit our activities or waive rights to our technologies or Biclonics^®Triclonics^® and multispecific antibody candidates; potential delays in regulatory approvals that could impact our ability to commercialize our product candidates and our ability to generate revenues; the lengthy and expensive clinical drug development process, the outcome of which is uncertain; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; potential delays in patient enrollment that could impact obtaining necessary regulatory approvals; our dependence on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the possibility that such third parties may not perform satisfactorily; the effects of market volatility; we may not identify suitable Biclonics products^® or bispecific antibody candidates under our collaboration or our collaborators may not perform properly under our collaboration; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which could delay, prevent or hinder our development and commercialization efforts; the protection of our proprietary technology; our patents may be found invalid, unenforceable, circumvented by competitors, and our patent applications may be found to be inconsistent with the rules and regulations governing patentability; we may not prevail in potential lawsuits alleging infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties; and our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or deemed to be generic or infringing on the trademarks of others.

These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 8, 2024, and in our other reports filed with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements constitute management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. Although we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we assume no obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change, except as required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon to reflect our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Multiclones^®Biklonics^® and Triclonica^® are registered trademarks of Merus NV

CONTACT: Investor and Media Inquiries:   Sherri Spear  Merus N.V.  VP Investor Relations and Corporate Communications  617-821-3246  [email protected]   Kathleen Farren   Merus N.V.  IR/Corp Comms  617-230-4165  [email protected]