CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moderna, Inc., (Nasdaq: MRNA) a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, today announced that Melanie Ivarsson, Ph.D., M.B.A., will join the company as its Chief Development Officer. Dr. Ivarsson comes to Moderna from Takeda Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TAK) where she was Vice President, Head of Global Clinical Operations. Dr. Ivarsson will report to Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Moderna.
“Melanie brings tremendous clinical operations experience from multiple pharmaceutical companies across a variety of therapeutic areas, including the treatment for rare diseases such as Hereditary Angioedema (Takhzyro, Cinryze, Firazyr) and Lysosomal Storage Disorders including Gaucher disease (VPriv), Hunter's syndrome (Elaprase) and Metachromatic leukodystrophy (in clinical trials),” said Dr. Zaks. “We are thrilled to welcome Melanie to the Moderna team as we move toward the next phase of growth of our company.”
“I am passionate about delivering innovative new medicines to patients and am excited by the potential of mRNA as a new class of medicines,” said Dr. Ivarsson. “I look forward to joining Moderna at such an exciting time for the company as it continues to expand and advance its pipeline.”
Dr. Ivarsson has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. As Vice President, Head of Global Clinical Operations, at Takeda, she oversaw 130 clinical operations experts, with responsibility for the delivery of all clinical trials across oncology, neuroscience, rare disease, gastroenterology and plasma-derived therapies. She has also served as Senior Director, Head of Clinical Strategy and Operations, at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), where she led strategic and business operations for the clinical organization. Dr. Ivarsson also held roles within the early clinical development group at Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY).
Dr. Ivarsson received her Ph.D. from University of Bristol and completed postdoctoral research at Lund University and New York University. She holds an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.
About Moderna
Moderna is advancing messenger RNA (mRNA) science to create a new class of transformative medicines for patients. mRNA medicines are designed to direct the body’s cells to produce intracellular, membrane or secreted proteins that can have a therapeutic or preventive benefit and have the potential to address a broad spectrum of diseases. Moderna’s platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, providing the Company the capability to pursue in parallel a robust pipeline of new development candidates. Moderna is developing therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, independently and with strategic collaborators.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Moderna currently has strategic alliances for development programs with AstraZeneca, Plc. (NASDAQ: AZN) and Merck, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRK), as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense; the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past five years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
