Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq: RIGL), a California-based biotechnology company, announced on Tuesday that it has named Lisa Rojkjaer, MD as its new executive vice president and chief medical officer.

Dr Rojkjaer has more than 20 years of clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs experience with a concentration on haematology and oncology. She has served in various leadership positions in clinical development and medical affairs at biotechnology and global pharmaceutical companies. She has most recently served as chief medical officer of Sangamo Therapeutics. She has also worked as chief medical officer at both Viracta Therapeutics and Nordic Nanovector, global clinical program head at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, chief medical officer at Molecular Partners, vice president, head of Clinical Development at MorphoSys AG and director of Clinical Development and head, Global Medical Affairs, Biopharmaceuticals at Novo Nordisk.

Raul Rodriguez, Rigel's president and CEO, said: "It is a pleasure to welcome Lisa to the team. She brings to Rigel a strong combination of industry leadership experience paired with drug development and regulatory affairs expertise. Her robust haematology and oncology knowledge complements our existing leadership team and supports the growth of Rigel's clinical portfolio. We welcome Dr. Rojkjaer to the team during an exciting time for Rigel's clinical programs, including our recently announced collaborations with MD Anderson and CONNECT to expand the evaluation of olutasidenib in a broad range of IDH1-mutant cancers and our ongoing Phase 1b trial of R289 being developed for patients with lower-risk myeloid dysplastic syndrome (LR-MDS)."