Kura Oncology Appoints James Basta as Chief Legal Officer

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kura Oncology, Inc. KURA, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer, today announced the appointment of James Basta as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Basta will also serve as the Company's Chief Compliance Officer.

"We are privileged to have an executive of Jim's caliber join our senior leadership team," said Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Kura Oncology. "Jim brings more than two decades of experience providing legal guidance and leadership to companies. His deep background in biotechnology, coupled with his expertise in securities, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licensing and healthcare compliance, make him well-suited for this role as we work to maximize the value of our pipeline of wholly owned, clinical-stage oncology assets."

Mr. Basta joins Kura with more than 20 years of combined in-house corporate and law firm experience. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Corporation Counsel at Biogen, where he managed the legal representation for Biogen's securities filings, board of directors, business development, finance and tax, corporate affairs, employment and information technology. Prior to joining Biogen in 2006, he was Partner, Corporate and Securities Practice Group at Baker & McKenzie. Mr. Basta earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and his B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University.

"I am excited to join Kura at a time when the company is well positioned for growth," said Mr. Basta. "I am impressed by the quality of its clinical programs, the depth of its senior leadership team and the opportunities that lie ahead. I look forward to working with the team, offering a balance of strong business partnering and corporate guardianship."

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer. The Company's pipeline consists of small molecule drug candidates that target cancer signaling pathways where there is a strong scientific and clinical rationale to improve outcomes by identifying those patients most likely to benefit from treatment. Kura's lead drug candidate is tipifarnib, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor, for which the Company is conducting a registration-directed trial in recurrent or metastatic patients with HRAS mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. In addition, tipifarnib is being evaluated in multiple other Phase 2 clinical trials in solid tumor and hematologic indications. Kura's pipeline also includes KO-947, an ERK inhibitor, and KO-539, a menin-MLL inhibitor, both of which are currently in Phase 1 dose-escalation trials. For additional information about Kura, please visit the Company's website at www.kuraoncology.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding, among other things, Kura Oncology's potential for growth. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include the risk that compounds that appeared promising in early research or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in later preclinical studies or clinical trials, the risk that Kura Oncology may not obtain approval to market its product candidates, uncertainties associated with performing clinical trials, regulatory filings and applications, risks associated with reliance on third parties to successfully conduct clinical trials, the risks associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements, and other risks associated with the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such drugs. You are urged to consider statements that include the words "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "promise," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipated," "intends," "continues," "designed," "goal," or the negative of those words or other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the company faces, please refer to the company's periodic and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. Such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date they are made, and Kura Oncology assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

Company:

Pete De Spain

Vice President, Investor Relations &

Corporate Communications

(858) 500-8803

pete@kuraoncology.com

Investors:

Robert H. Uhl

Managing Director

Westwicke ICR

(858) 356-5932

robert.uhl@westwicke.com

Media:

Jason Spark

Managing Director

Canale Communications

(619) 849-6005

jason@canalecomm.com