Kazia Therapeutics Limited announced that Dr. Sudha Rao will serve as Chief Scientific Officer. The employment agreement was signed on April 10, 2026, and her role became effective on April 13, 2026.
Dr. Rao brings more than 20 years of research experience, including her role as the scientific originator of the epigenetic framework that underpins the company’s PI3K/mTOR inhibitor paxalisib. She has led the development of paxalisib and has extensive expertise in epigenetics, protein degradation, and precision oncology, having held leadership positions at Sanofi and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
"Dr. Rao is a leading translational epigenetics scientist, a breast cancer researcher, and the lead inventor behind the intellectual property linking PI3K/mTOR inhibition to epigenetic regulation. As the architect of much of our platform, including paxalisib, NDL2, and MSETC, her appointment allows us to immediately strengthen execution while advancing a more integrated, platform‑driven oncology strategy," said CEO Dr. John Friend.
The appointment comes shortly after Kazia’s in‑licensing of the SETDB1 epigenetic platform from QIMR Berghofer for an upfront payment of approximately $1.39 million, announced on April 13, 2026. Dr. Rao’s background in chromatin biology and her experience with SETDB1 position her to accelerate IND‑enabling studies for the NDL2 PD‑L1 protein degrader and the MSETC SETDB1‑targeted program, while reinforcing the company’s strategy to reprogram cancer biology and overcome treatment resistance.
"SETDB1 represents a compelling emerging target in oncology. With this acquisition, we are extending our strategy to target how cancer controls its own behavior by addressing immune resistance at the chromatin level, one of the earliest layers of tumor immune regulation, alongside transcriptional reprogramming with paxalisib and targeted protein degradation with our PD‑L1 platform. Together, these programs position Kazia's pipeline to address cancer therapy across multiple layers of tumor biology," added Dr. Friend.
Dr. Rao’s focus on combining precision targeting, real‑time patient selection, and AI‑guided drug discovery will further position Kazia’s oncology platform to tackle hard‑to‑treat cancers through innovative combinations of pathway inhibition and epigenetic reprogramming, advancing the company’s goal of scalable development of therapies tailored to resistance mechanisms and tumor evolution.
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