Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has selected Aron Knickerbocker to succeed Lewis T. "Rusty" Williams, M.D., Ph.D., as President and CEO of Five Prime effective January 1, 2018. Mr. Knickerbocker is currently Five Prime's Chief Operating Officer (COO), and will maintain that position until the end of 2017. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2013 and will continue to serve his term once CEO.

As announced earlier this year, Dr. Williams intends to transition from the position of President, CEO and Chairman of the Board to the role of Executive Chairman of the Board at the beginning of 2018. Mr. Knickerbocker joined Five Prime in 2009 to lead the company's business development efforts, eventually serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer and later COO. Prior to Five Prime, Mr. Knickerbocker served at Genentech for eight years in positions of increasing responsibility, including leading the oncology business development team as Senior Director, Business Development.

Previously, Mr. Knickerbocker served as Director of Commercial Development at ALZA Corporation (which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson), and in oncology sales, marketing and corporate development roles at Amgen, and as a research scientist at BMS.