Starton Therapeutics Announces Promotion of Rod Hartwig to Vice President of Research and Development and Manufacturing

PARAMUS, N.J., Oct. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starton Therapeutics Inc. (“Starton”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company transforming standard-of-care therapies with proprietary continuous delivery technologies, announced today the promotion of Rod Hartwig, previously Executive Director of Product Development, to Vice President of Research and Development/Manufacturing, effective October 1, 2025. In his new role he will become a member of the leadership team and report to Pedro Lichtinger, Chairman & CEO of Starton Therapeutics. This leadership transition follows the planned retirement of Andy Rensink, Starton’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, who will retire effective October 31, 2025.

“We are deeply grateful to Andy for his seven years of outstanding leadership and dedication to Starton. His contributions have played a vital role in shaping our development strategy and positioning us for long-term success,” said Pedro Lichtinger, Chairman and CEO. “We are excited to congratulate Rod on his well-deserved promotion and are confident his experience and commitment to excellence will guide our R&D team and manufacturing to a successful future.”

Mr. Hartwig brings a wealth of experience, leadership, and innovation to this expanded role. Prior to his six years at Starton, he served as Vice President of Operations at ProSolus, Inc., a topical and transdermal delivery system company based in Miami, FL for about ten years focusing on development and manufacturing of generic transdermal patches with the company supporting the successful application and approval of an ANDA transdermal patch. Before that, he oversaw the operations of a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization serving as Vice President of Operations and Manufacturing at Azopharma Product Development Group in Miramar, FL. Mr. Hartwig has authored several publications, industry presentations, and is a credited inventor on numerous patents across Starton, ProSolus, and Noven, where he began his journey in the development of pharmaceutical drug products.

Please join us in congratulating both Andy Rensink on his retirement and Rod Hartwig on his new position.

About STAR-LLD

STAR-LLD is a continuous delivery lenalidomide (LLD) in development to expand and replace the standard-of-care for the most common blood cancers, multiple myeloma (MM), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). A preclinical proof-of-concept study for subcutaneous STAR-LLD demonstrated that MM tumors caused by human myeloma cells grew 25-fold if untreated, five-fold when treated with daily lenalidomide, and shrank by 80% with STAR-LLD over a single 28-day cycle. The study also showed a 100% overall response rate (ORR) using continuous delivery LLD with 20% of animals in this cohort tumor-free after 100 days; by contrast, there was a 0% ORR in animals treated with a 70% higher dose of lenalidomide given in single daily doses. In addition, a Phase 1b clinical study of six relapsed/refractory MM patients resulted in all patients that received STAR-LLD achieving an objective response (1 CR and 5 PRs); no patients experienced drug-related anemia, neutropenia, leukopenia, or thrombocytopenia greater than grade 2 in up to 12 cycles of therapy. The Phase 1b clinical study concluded that continuous delivery of low dose lenalidomide (STAR-LLD) provides meaningful efficacy and improved tolerability with no grade > 2 drug-related hematologic toxicity.

About Starton Therapeutics

Starton Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology platform company focused on transforming standard-of-care therapies with proprietary continuous delivery technology, so people with cancer live better, for longer. Starton’s proprietary technology is intended to increase the efficacy of approved drugs, make them more tolerable, and expand their potential use. To learn more, visit www.startontx.com.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including, without limitation, statements regarding our plans and objectives for future operations and expectations about current and future clinical trials, constitute “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions and known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those included within the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and, except as required by law, Starton undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contact

Alex Starr
Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors
astarr@lifesciadvisors.com

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