Longtime Bay Area biotech executive Dr. John Curd, who helped shepherd the Genentech cancer drugs Herceptin and Rituxan through clinical trials and most recently was president and chief medical officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., died unexpectedly Wednesday at his home.
Curd, who joined Threshold (NASDAQ: THLD) in October 2007 and oversaw the Redwood City-based company’s clinical development work, apparently died of natural causes, the company said. He was 65.
“We are very much in shock and frief by this sudden loss of our colleague and friend, and our immediate thoughts go out to John’s family,” Threshold CEO Barry Selick said in a prepared statement.
Threshold is entering a pivotal Phase III trial with a treatment for soft tissue sarcoma. The same drug, TH-302, is being looked at in multiple trials, including one for advanced pancreatic cancer.
Curd’s death is not expected to have an impact on Threshold’s planned or ongoing clinical trials, the company said.
Before coming to Threshold, Curd was president and chief medical officer of Novacea Inc., senior vice president of development at Maxygen Inc. and executive vice president at VaxGen Inc. He also cofounded Cyterix Pharmaceuticals Inc.
At Genentech from late 1991 until June 1999, Curd was vice president of clinical development. He directed the clinical development of Herceptin, a groundbreaking breast cancer treatment, and Rituxan, which is approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and, most recently, advanced follicular lymphoma.
“Everyone who knew him loved him,” said Jay “Marty” Tenenbaum of CollabRx, where Curd was a board member and consulting chief medical officer.
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