Portola Pharmaceuticals appoints Laura Brege and Dr. Dennis Fenton to the Board of Directors

– USA, CA – Portola Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:PTLA) today announced the appointment of Laura Brege and Dennis Fenton, Ph.D., to its board of directors. Ms. Brege serves as president and chief executive officer of Nodality, Inc., a life sciences company focused on innovative personalized medicine. Dr. Fenton is the owner and chief executive officer of Fenton and Associates, a biotechnology consulting firm.

“Laura and Dennis have directly relevant experience to help Portola execute on the regulatory approvals and launches of our steady stream of well-differentiated, groundbreaking products in thrombosis, hematologic cancers and other diseases in 2016, 2017 and beyond,” said Bill Lis, chief executive officer of Portola. “They each have a strong track record of Board leadership and operational success in manufacturing, strategic partnerships and global commercialization. This expertise will be invaluable as we enter this next exciting phase of our evolution to become a leading independent biopharmaceutical company with multiple marketed products on a global scale.”

Ms. Brege, prior to joining Nodality, held several senior-level positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including executive vice president and chief operating officer. While at Onyx, she led multiple functions, including commercialization, strategic planning, corporate development, and medical, scientific and government affairs. Before joining Onyx, Ms. Brege was a general partner at Red Rock Capital Management, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage financing for technology companies. Prior to Red Rock, she was the senior vice president and chief financial officer at COR Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, Ms. Brege served as vice president and chief financial officer at Flextronics and vice president and treasurer of The Cooper Companies. In addition to Portola, Ms. Brege currently sits on the boards of directors of Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Aratana Therapeutics, Inc., Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Dynavax Technologies Corporation. Ms. Brege earned a B.A. from Ohio University (Honors Tutorial College) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Fenton, prior to founding Fenton and Associates, served as executive vice president of operations at Amgen, where he was responsible for worldwide operations, manufacturing, process development and quality. Dr. Fenton joined Amgen in 1982 and held numerous executive leadership roles in operations and sales and marketing. In addition to Portola, he serves on the boards of directors of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Hospira, Inc., Dendreon Corporation, Nora Therapeutics and XenoPort, Inc. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute. Dr. Fenton was previously a director of the Genzyme Corporation, Genelux Corporation and Amira Pharmaceuticals. He received a B.S. in Biology from Manhattan College and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Rutgers University.

About Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Portola Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing product candidates that could significantly advance the fields of thrombosis and other hematologic diseases. The Company is advancing its three wholly-owned programs using novel biomarker and genetic approaches that may increase the likelihood of clinical, regulatory and commercial success of its potentially life-saving therapies. Portola’s partnered program is focused on developing selective Syk inhibitors for inflammatory conditions.

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Talent4Boards Team

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