25 January 2019 - - US-based investigational ribonucleic acid interference therapeutics developer Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA) has made several changes to its board of directors, including the elevation of J. Kevin Buchi to chairman of the board; the appointment of industry experts Marc Kozin, professional board member, and Anna Protopapas, president and chief executive officer of Mersana Therapeutics, to the Dicerna BOD, the company said.

Departing are former chairman David Madden and director Brian Halak.

The changes are effective immediately and reflect Dicerna's ongoing growth and transition toward a fully integrated pharmaceutical company.

Buchi, the former president and chief executive officer of Cephalon, Inc. and TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals, joined the Dicerna board of directors in August 2018. He previously served as corporate vice president of Global Branded Products at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. from 2011 to May 2012, after Cephalon's acquisition by Teva in October 2011.

Buchi joined Cephalon in 1991 and, during his tenure, held various leadership positions, including chief financial officer and chief operating officer, before becoming Cephalon's chief executive officer in December 2010.

In addition, Buchi currently serves as a director of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Benitec Biopharma Ltd., and previously served on the boards of several pharmaceutical companies, including EPIRUS Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Forward Pharma A/S.

Marc Kozin is a professional board member. Previously, Kozin was a career strategy consultant, having served as president of L.E.K. Consulting's North American practice for 15 years from 1997-2012.

Kozin has over 30 years of experience in corporate and business unit strategy consulting, merger and acquisition advisory services, and value management both domestically and internationally.

He also has deep industry expertise advising biopharmaceutical, life sciences, and medical technology companies and led the development of L.E.K.'s industry leading life science strategic planning practice.

Kozin serves on the boards of several companies, including UFP Technologies, Inc., HealthCare Royalty Partners, and The Greenlight Fund.

Kozin has also served on the boards of Medical Simulation Corp., Dyax, OvaScience, and, until their recent acquisition by Novartis, Endocyte. Kozin previously served on the board of governors at New England Medical Center and the board of DukeEngage for several years.

Kozin received his B.A. with distinction, magna cum laude, in Economics from Duke University. He was also awarded an MBA with distinction from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Anna Protopapas is president and chief executive officer of Mersana Therapeutics, a clinical-stage antibody drug conjugate company, which she joined in March 2015.

Prior to Mersana, Protopapas was president of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where she led Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s USD1.3 bn oncology business.

Protopapas also served as the executive vice president of Global Business Development for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where she oversaw global acquisitions, partnering, licensing, and venture investing.

In this role, she led Takeda's USD 12bn acquisition of Nycomed, a critical step in the company's globalization.

Protopapas was a member of Takeda's executive committee and was elected a corporate officer in 2011.

Earlier, Protopapas was an executive officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and served in various senior leadership positions, playing an integral role in the company's transformation from a genomics start-up to a fully integrated oncology leader.

Anna has served on the board of directors of Ariad Pharmaceuticals from May 2015 to February 2017 when it was sold to Takeda for USD 5.2bn.

Anna also served on the board of Bioverativ from January 2017 to January 2018 when it was sold to Sanofi for USD 11.6bn. She earned her bachelor's degree in science and engineering from Princeton University, a master's in chemical engineering practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, subcutaneously delivered RNAi-based therapeutics for the treatment of diseases involving the liver, including rare diseases, viral infectious diseases, chronic liver diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.

The company is leveraging its proprietary GalXC RNAi technology platform to build a broad pipeline in these core therapeutic areas, focusing on target genes where connections between target gene and diseases are well understood and documented.

Dicerna plans to discover, develop and commercialise novel therapeutics either on its own or in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners.