Seagen’s Former CEO Starts Company in Hot New Cancer Field

The former chief of Seagen Inc., the cancer company Pfizer Inc. bought last year for $43 billion, has started a new company that uses a promising two-pronged approach to fighting tumors.

David Epstein will lead the new company, Ottimo Pharma, which debuted Monday after four years in secrecy. The biotech company is developing a drug that targets two different cancer vulnerabilities, including a protein hit by Merck & Co.’s blockbuster Keytruda.

Ottimo’s double-barreled approach is similar to the one taken by Summit Therapeutics Inc., whose shares skyrocketed after it outperformed Keytruda in a head-to-head lung cancer trial. ...