Merus Appoints Setareh van Driel Shamsili as Chief Medical Officer

December 14, 2012

Utrecht, The Netherlands, December 11, 2012 – Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative human antibody therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Setareh van Driel Shamsili, MD, Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

Setareh van Driel Shamsili has more than 22 years of experience in general medicine, internal medicine and medical oncology. For the past 13 years, she has focused on both translational and clinical cancer research. She has more than eight years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development, R&D, medical affairs, drug safety and pharmacovigilance and holds a PhD in Neuro-Oncology from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Prior to joining Merus, Setareh van Driel Shamsili was Global Medical Leader Oncology at Astellas Pharma Global Development.

“We are delighted about Setareh van Driel Shamsili joining our team,” said Ton Logtenberg, CEO and founder of Merus. “She brings invaluable experience in oncology drug development and the pharmaceutical industry. As our antibody platforms have matured and consistently yield lead candidates for clinical development, Setareh's expertise will be invaluable to reach our ambitious business goals.”

“Merus is spearheading the development of next-generation antibodies that will combine improved clinical efficacy with ease of manufacturing,” added Setareh van Driel Shamsili. “The platform developed by Merus enables the oncology community to explore effective targeting of various malignant disorders using novel target antigens and or antibody combinations with more confidence. I am therefore very excited to head Merus’ preparation to enter the clinical stage and I am determined to pave the way for successful clinical development of the BiclonicsTM and Oligoclonics® antibodies.”

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About Merus B.V.

Merus is a biotechnology company building a pipeline of innovative human bispecific antibodies (BiclonicsTM) and single cell-derived combinations of antibodies (Oligoclonics®) for cancer therapy. Through the use of a common antibody light chain and CH3 heterodimerization technology, these full length IgG antibody therapeutics can be robustly produced at high yields from a single clonal manufacturing cell line using standard approaches. Biclonics™ and Oligoclonics® bind to multiple disease-associated targets such as growth factor receptors expressed by tumor cells. Synergy is achieved by addressing multiple pathways/mechanisms simultaneously, thereby eliminating tumor cells more efficiently and preventing treatment escape.

Merus meets a significant need in the oncology field: the supply of bispecific antibodies and single-cell derived antibody combinations with improved clinical efficacy to address the limited potency of conventional antibodies. For further information, please visit our website at www.merus.nl

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