XBiotech Adds Daniel Vasella to its Board of Directors

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- XBiotech announced today that Dr. Daniel Vasella has joined the Company as a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Vasella was CEO of Sandoz AG, where he helped engineer one of the largest mergers in pharmaceutical history, uniting Sandoz AG and Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis AG. After the merger, Dr. Vasella was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Novartis AG and ultimately Chairman of the Board, a position he held until 2013. Dr. Vasella was considered by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people, and the Financial Times described him as the most influential European business leader of the last quarter century. Dr. Vasella was known for creating and driving a culture of innovation at Novartis, where it is claimed that he reduced time to market while doubling the number of drugs in late stage development compared to other leading pharma companies.

John Simard, the XBiotech Chairman & CEO commented, "I speak for the rest of our board members in offering a hearty welcome to Dr. Vasella. We will all embrace the experience of Dr. Vasella to help manage our dynamic R&D assets as we transition rapidly towards commercialization."

ABOUT XBIOTECH
XBiotech is a leading developer of next generation therapeutic antibodies. The Company is also innovating with manufacturing technology and clinical strategies to lessen capital requirements and reduce lead times for drug development.

Contact: 
Ashley Otero
XBiotech
aotero@xbiotech.com 
512.386.2930 

SOURCE XBiotech