Mika Sovak

In my role as Vice President and Franchise Head, R&D, I lead the fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki programme at AstraZeneca accountable for the integrated development and commercial strategy of the compound. This exciting program addressing the needs of patients with HER-2 driven tumors is being developed in collaboration with our partner, Daiichi Sankyo, and is to become one of the largest and most exciting development programs currently in oncology.

A medical oncologist by training, I have extensive drug development experience from early phase trials to global filings, as well as strong management and leadership experience. At AstraZeneca, I’ve led development programmes exploring compounds in numerous tumour types including breast cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.

Throughout my career, I have focused on building strong, collaborative, and diverse teams where each team member feels valued and can bring their best self to the problem of solving cancer. I am a champion of diversity and inclusion and lead the Oncology Global Inclusion and Diversity Council at AstraZeneca. I am also passionate about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education having served as a speaker at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, X-STEM Congress and USA Science and Engineering Festival.

Before joining AstraZeneca, I was Group Medical Director at Genentech responsible for leading clinical development for cobimetinib, a MEK inhibitor being explored in melanoma, as well as the clinical lead for all bevacizumab studies in gynecologic malignancies.   

I have been an author and driven programs leading to numerous peer-reviewed publications in Lancet Oncology and New England Journal of Medicine. I am also a member of various professional oncology medical societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research and the European Society of Medical Oncology.

After earning a medical degree in pathology and immunology from Boston University School of Medicine, I completed my medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.