ESSA Pharma Inc. announced that Dr. David Parkinson has been appointed as the company's President and Chief Executive Officer effective immediately, replacing Mr. Bob Rieder who has announced his departure from the company and resignation from the Board of Directors. Prior to January 7, 2016, Dr. Parkinson has been serving as a Director of the Company and he will continue acting in that capacity. David Parkinson has served as Vice President, Global Clinical Oncology for Novartis, and as Vice President, Oncology Development at Amgen.

During his tenures at Amgen and Novartis, Dr. Parkinson was responsible for clinical development activities leading to a series of successful global drug registrations for important cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec, Femara, Zometa, Kepivance, and Vectibix. In addition, Dr. Parkinson has also served as the Sr. Vice President, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec and as the CEO of the diagnostics company Nodality. Most recently he has been serving as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates Inc.