Former CEO of NPS Pharmaceuticals brings broad expertise to support Moderna’s progress towards late-stage development and commercialization
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 François Nader, M.D., M.B.A. has joined its Board of Directors. Dr. Nader is an experienced biopharmaceutical executive and director with broad expertise across development, regulatory affairs and commercial at NPS Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Shire Plc, now part of Takeda (NYSE: TAK)), as well as Aventis-Pharma and the Pasteur Vaccines division of Rhone-Poulenc, now both part of Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY).
Concurrently with Dr. Nader’s appointment, Peter Barton Hutt, LL.M. has elected to step down after seven years of service to Moderna. Mr. Hutt will remain as a consultant and advisor to the Company.
“We are focused on continuing to add leaders to our board who understand the complexity of pioneering breakthrough innovations to support the next phase of Moderna’s growth,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chairman of Moderna, and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “François is a value builder with deep experience in vaccine and rare disease therapeutic development and expertise in leading companies from early to late-stage development. As we welcome François, I would like to thank Peter Hutt for the invaluable strategic and regulatory guidance he provided while serving on the board over the last seven years.”
“I am energized by Moderna’s culture, science and the impact I believe mRNA medicines will make for patients across a range of therapeutic areas,” said Dr. Nader. “I look forward to working with my fellow directors and applying learnings to support Moderna as the team continues generating new clinical data, prepares for pivotal trials and scales to ensure it is ready for commercialization.”
“As Moderna prepares for late-stage development and commercialization of our CMV vaccine, we sought a director with diverse experience across clinical development, regulatory affairs and commercial. François’ success in leading late-stage companies as well as his deep experience in infectious and rare diseases make him an important addition to the board as we continue to advance our pipeline,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “François has an impressive track record of leadership and value creation in the biopharmaceutical sector and I know we will benefit from his perspective. It has been a pleasure to work closely with Peter Hutt during his seven years on the board and I would like to thank him for his contributions to the Company’s success.”
Dr. Nader served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NPS Pharmaceuticals from 2008 until 2015, when the company was acquired by Shire. During his tenure as CEO, Dr. Nader transformed NPS Pharma into a leading global biotechnology company focused on delivering innovative therapies to patients with rare diseases. Prior to NPS, Dr. Nader was a venture partner at Care Capital, a venture capital firm. He previously served on Aventis Pharma’s North America Leadership Team, holding a number of executive positions in integrated healthcare markets and medical and regulatory affairs. Dr. Nader previously led global commercial operations at the Pasteur Vaccines division of Rhone-Poulenc.
In addition to serving on the Moderna board of directors, Dr. Nader currently serves as Chairman of the board of directors of Acceleron Pharma (NASDAQ: XLRN), Prevail Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PRVL) and Talaris Therapeutics. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXN) and advisor for SVB-Leerink. Dr. Nader is the past Chairman of BioNJ, New Jersey’s biotechnology trade organization, and previously served on the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), NPS Pharma (NASDAQ: NPSP), Advanced Accelerator Applications (NASDAQ: AAAP), Baxalta (NYSE: BXLT), Clementia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CMTA), Trevena (NASDAQ: TRVN) and Noven (NASDAQ: NOVN). In 2013, he was recognized as the Ernst and Young National Life Science Entrepreneur of the Year.
Dr. Nader earned his French doctorate in medicine from St. Joseph University in Lebanon and a physician executive MBA from the University of Tennessee.
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 have a therapeutic or preventive benefit with 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 and cardiovascular 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 (NASDAQ: DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense and 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.
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