Baxalta names two new board members

Baxalta has announced the appointment of Dr Karen Ferrante and Dr Francois Nader as new members of its board of directors, effective as of July 27th 2015.

Dr Ferrante is the chief medical officer at Tokai and has more than 20 years of broad oncology drug development experience, while Dr Nader served as the president and chief executive officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to earlier this year.

The appointments expand the board from seven to nine members, eight of whom are independent.

Dr Wayne Hockmeyer, chairman of the Baxalta board, said they will "bring valuable insight to our board as we continue to help Baxalta build a purpose-driven culture that delivers strong growth performance for shareholders, breakthroughs for patients, and meaningful and sustained value for all stakeholders".

Baxalta is the former biopharmaceutical division of Baxter and was spun off as an independent organisation at the beginning of the month.

It is dedicated to delivering transformative therapies to patients with orphan diseases and underserved conditions, with 20 new products set to be launched by 2020.