CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flare Therapeutics Inc. (FlareTx), a clinical-stage biotechnology company targeting transcription factors to discover precision medicines for oncology and other therapeutic areas, today announced the appointment of Stephen L. Eck, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Eck brings more than three decades of oncology drug discovery and development leadership across academia, biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been driven by the goal of bringing better therapies to people living with cancer,” said Dr. Eck. “Flare Therapeutics is advancing a highly differentiated clinical-stage pipeline grounded in novel biology, including FX-909, a novel PPARG inhibitor designed to target the underlying driver of urothelial cancer, and FX-111, which uniquely targets ARON – the transcriptionally activated androgen receptor – to address prostate cancer across all stages of disease. I’m excited to work with the team to thoughtfully and rigorously advance these programs through the clinic.”
In his new role, Dr. Eck will lead Flare Therapeutics’ clinical strategy and development efforts, overseeing clinical trial design and execution and interactions with global health authorities. In connection with this appointment, Michael L. Meyers, M.D., Ph.D. will retire from his role as Chief Medical Officer, effective January 31, 2026.
“Stephen has spent his career turning cutting-edge science into real treatment options for patients and his deep oncology expertise, from target discovery through late-stage development and approval, will be invaluable as we continue to advance and expand our pipeline, led by FX-909 and FX-111. We look forward to his contributions, leadership and engagement with our stakeholders,” said Doug Manion, M.D., FRCP (C), Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Flare Therapeutics. “I also want to congratulate Michael on his retirement and thank him for his steady leadership and dedication to patients throughout his time at FlareTx. He leaves a strong foundation for our next chapter.”
Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D., was most recently Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer at MacroGenics. Previously, Dr. Eck served as Chief Medical Officer of Immatics US, a company focused on TCR-based immunotherapies, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Aravive Biologics. Prior to these roles, Dr. Eck was Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Medical Sciences at Astellas Pharma, managing a portfolio of assets which included enzalutamide (Xtandi®), erlotinib (Tarceva®) and gilteritinib (Xospata®). Dr. Eck has also held leadership positions in drug development as Vice President of Translational Medicine and Pharmacogenomics at Eli Lilly and as Head of Clinical Oncology at Pfizer. He began his professional career at Monsanto in cancer target discovery and later joined the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Anne B. Young Assistant Professor of Cancer Research and the Director of the Cancer Gene Therapy Program. Dr. Eck previously served as a director for Circulogene, and on the boards of directors for the Personalized Medicine Coalition and Luminex Corporation. Dr. Eck currently serves on the board of 1cBio and the Central Pennsylvania Clinic. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Eck holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and an M.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine with Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship training at the University of Michigan.
About Flare Therapeutics Inc.
Flare Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company exclusively focused on drugging transcription factors to fully unlock the therapeutic potential of this previously elusive target class. The company’s lead program, FX-909, is a first-in-class orally available small molecule inhibitor of PPARG, the master regulator of the luminal lineage, that is initially being developed for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer. FX-909 has achieved clinical proof-of-concept in a Phase 1A study as a monotherapy and is actively dosing patients in a Phase 1B to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose in a biomarker-defined population. The second lead program, FX-111, is a novel and highly differentiated potent and selective degrader for ARON, the transcriptionally active, hormone-bound androgen receptor. This approach offers the potential to overcome key vulnerabilities of conventional therapies that target AROFF and has broad potential across prostate cancer at all stages. FX-111 is undergoing Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies for initial development for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). These two programs, along with an earlier-stage portfolio targeting transcription factors involved in oncology and other therapeutic areas, leverages Flare Therapeutics’ integrated discovery platform of capabilities that identifies novel validated ligands to the undrugged proteome. For more information, please visit www.flaretx.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Contacts:
Investors:
Sarah McCabe
investorrelations@flaretx.com
Media:
Timothy Cockroft
media@flaretx.com
