Kitov Pharma Ltd. announced that it has appointed Bertrand Liang, M.D., Ph.D., as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Liang brings to Kitov extensive experience leading clinical development programs in oncology, and he will lead the medical affairs of Kitov in the development of its oncology pipeline including, CM-24, a novel checkpoint inhibitor, and NT-219, a novel small molecule targeting cancer drug resistance pathways. Kitov intends to initiate clinical trials for both programs in 2020. Dr. Liang previously founded several leading biotechnology companies, including Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Coronado Biosciences (subsequently merged with Fortress Biotech) and Pfenex Inc. Earlier in his career, he was Site Head at Biogen IDEC (now Biogen), leading pre-clinical and clinical development, and Vice President, New Ventures; managing member, Forward Medical Sciences (a venture capital firm). He also served as Vice President and Head of Hematology and Oncology at IDEC; and Global Development Leader at Amgen, where he led the development of various cytokines that received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, including Neulasta®. He has also held academic positions at the National Cancer Institute, University of Colorado and University of Vermont, where he headed Human Medical Genetics. He is an alumnus of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, the Institute of Materials Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, the Law School at University of London, Boston University, Regis University, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications, chapters and books, and edited a number of volumes in the fields of Neurology and Oncology.