Lugano, Switzerland, January 13, 2020 – Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care and rare diseases products, today announces that Eric Cornut and Lonnie Moulder have been appointed as members of the Board of Directors of the Helsinn Group, effective immediately.

Eric Cornut is rejoining the Helsinn Group Board, having previously held a Board role from May 2017 – October 2018. He has over 27 years of pharmaceutical management experience. Previous roles include Interim Director General of The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), where previously he was Chairman of EFPIA’s executive committee for five years (2008-2013).

Prior to this, Eric spent over 20 years at Novartis AG in a number of high-profile positions, including Chief Ethics, Compliance and Policy Officer at Novartis International AG and Chief Commercial Officer at Novartis Pharma AG. He is currently a member of the Supervisory Board at Stada AG and Group Chairman of Menarini. Eric has a Doctoral degree in Law from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and a Master of Law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States.

Lonnie Moulder is a highly experienced leader and Board level advisor with over three decades of experience. Most recently, he served as CEO of Tesaro, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company he cofounded which was purchased by GlaxoSmithKline for $5.1 billion in 2019. He previously served as CEO of MGI PHARMA, which was acquired by Eisai Co., Ltd. for $3.9 billion in 2008, as well as CEO of Abraxis BioScience, Inc.

Lonnie is currently the Founding General Partner of Tellus BioVentures. He is an active member of the Board of Trustees of Temple University and serves on the boards of several biotechnology companies and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He completed an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and holds a BS from the Temple University School of Pharmacy.

Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, commented: I’m delighted to be welcoming two highly experienced Pharma and Biotech leaders with very relevant expertise in oncology to the Board. Over more than two decades at Novartis Eric drove both commercial and compliance best practice and whilst previously at Helsinn we leant on his strategic expertise and so we are delighted to welcome him back to the Helsinn family as member of the Board of Directors.

“I am also delighted to announce Lonnie’s appointment to the Board of Directors. His track record of developing high value oncology pipelines and delivering value is unparalleled, evidenced by the recent successful sale of Tesaro to GlaxoSmithKline. I look forward to working with such a seasoned Biotech leader as we develop our innovative pipeline and roll out our commercial strategy.”

On his appointment, as member of the Board of Directors of the Helsinn Group, Eric Cornut, said:“I have known Helsinn and its Board for many years and am pleased to be returning to an advisory role. Helsinn’s values of integrity, respect and quality align with my own and I’m excited to help the business deliver for patients in the coming years.”

Commenting on his appointment, Lonnie Moulder said: “Helsinn is a company that is highly respected in the industry for the way it works collaboratively with partners around the world. Watching from afar I have been impressed by their commitment to deliver treatments to patients, ranging from cancer supportive care products to therapeutics, and I am excited to be working closely with Riccardo and the rest of the team.”