Delphia Therapeutics Names David Kerstein Chief Medical Officer

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Delphia Therapeutics, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., is appointing David P. Kerstein, MD, its new Chief Medical Officer. A biopharmaceutical company, Delphia focuses on pioneering activation lethality, which it says is an innovative new area of cancer biology.

The therapeutics behind activation lethality target cancer’s surprising vulnerability, according to Delphia, to oncogene overactivation. The company’s platform, accordingly, holds potential for first-in-class targeted cancer medicines. Ideally, these medicines would be effective on their own, but also combat the emergence of resistance to classic targeted therapies.

Chief Medical Officer Experience

Where Kerstein’s appointment carries relevance here is his experience with oncology drug development across both early- and late-stage precision programs. Kerstein is a seasoned Chief Medical Officer; he served IDRx in that post before its February 2025 acquisition by GSK. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer at Theseus Pharmaceuticals, and before that, Anchiano Therapeutics.

Earlier, Kerstein was senior medical director in oncology clinical research and lung cancer clinical portfolio strategy lead at Takeda. This followed a stint as senior medical director of clinical research at Ariad Pharmaceuticals, before Takeda acquired it in 2017. Before that, Kerstein was director of clinical development and regulatory affairs at Boston Biomedical, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma.

“The biology underlying activation lethality represents an exciting, novel and differentiated opportunity in oncology.” Kerstein said.

He added that this innovation has potential to address significant unmet patient needs. Kerstein said he was excited to “help advance a pipeline designed to exploit cancer-specific vulnerabilities in entirely new ways.”

Delphia CEO Adds Remarks

Kevin Marks, PhD, Delphia co-founder, President, and CEO, also commented.

“As we continue to advance activation lethality as a novel therapeutic approach, David’s leadership will be instrumental,” Marks said.