SOMERSET, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Legend Biotech (NASDAQ: LEGN) announced today that it has appointed Dr. Corazon (Corsee) Dating Sanders, Dr. Darren Ji, and Mr. Philip Yau to the company’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Sanders joined the Legend Biotech Board of Directors in May 2020. She has over 25 years of experience in the discovery and development of biopharmaceutical products addressing high unmet medical need disease areas. Dr. Sanders has directly contributed and/or provided oversight in developing multiple pharmaceutical products, including a CAR-T cell therapy for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma when she served on the Juno Therapeutics Executive Committee as Executive Vice President of Development Operations from 2017 to 2018 and as Strategic Advisor to the Celgene Chief Medical Office from 2018 to 2019. She was also a Member of the Genentech/Roche Late Stage Portfolio Committee from 2009 to 2017, and Global Head of the Genentech/Roche Late Stage Clinical Operations, covering the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific from 2012 to 2017.
Dr. Sanders currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Molecular Templates, Inc and of AbGenomics International, Inc.
Dr. Ji joined the Legend Biotech Board of Directors in May 2020 and will serve as Chairperson of the Compensation Committee. In prior roles, he served as the Global Head and Vice President of F. Hofmann-La Roche Ltd. for Business Development in Asia and Emerging Markets. Dr. Ji was responsible for driving the strategy and execution of business development activities in a large territory encompassing over 100 countries.
A repeat entrepreneur, Dr. Ji started his career at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals with increasing responsibilities in drug R&D and business development. He co-founded and managed as CEO PharmaLegacy Laboratories in Shanghai in 2008, which became a premium CRO providing high-quality drug discovery services to a large global clientele until today.
Currently, Dr. Ji is Chairman and CEO of Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage immunotherapy company which he co-founded. He is also a Venture Partner of Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV).
Mr. Yau joined the Legend Biotech Board of Directors in May 2020 and will serve as Chairperson of the Audit Committee. He has over 23 years of experience in accounting, finance, mergers and acquisitions, investments, corporate finance, audit, and risk management. Most recently, Mr. Yau served as the non-Executive Vice Chairman and Group Chief Financial Officer at AMTD Group where he led the strategy development, corporate finance and investment function. Prior to that, he worked at Ernst & Young China Practice as a partner and risk advisor China South market leader, serving clients in Greater China. From January 2006 to July 2011, he worked at Protiviti Shanghai Co., Ltd. serving clients in Greater China, and as a managing director and Shenzhen office leader, where he was primarily responsible for overall management of the company. From 1997 to 2006, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Andersen & Co. in various roles with his most recent position as a senior manager in the risk consulting practice.
”We are thrilled to welcome Corsee, Darren and Philip to our Board of Directors at this exciting and important new phase of evolution for Legend Biotech,” stated Dr. Yuan Xu, Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of Legend Biotech. “The addition of these directors complements our Board’s skills and experiences, and we are confident they will provide valuable perspectives. We look forward to their engagement and assistance in guiding our strategies and objectives to bring innovative and impactful cell therapies toward potential registration and commercialization.”
About Legend Biotech
Legend Biotech is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel cell therapies for oncology and other indications. Our team of over 650 employees across the United States, China and Europe, along with our differentiated technology, global development, and manufacturing strategies and expertise, provide us with the strong potential to discover, develop, and manufacture best-in-class cell therapies for patients in need.
We are engaged in a strategic collaboration with Janssen Biotech to develop and commercialize our lead product candidate, LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528, an investigational BCMA-targeted CAR-T cell therapy for patients living with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. This candidate is currently being studied in registrational clinical trials.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Legend Biotech’s strategies and objectives and the potential contributions of its three new board members. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the preliminary prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Legend Biotech specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not rely upon the information on this page as current or accurate after its publication date.
