BioCentury
ARTICLE | Management Tracks

Frank Zhang returns to Legend 

Plus Protano named CFO at Alltrna, and updates from Laronde, Xentria and more

August 5, 2022 12:45 AM UTC

Two years after the Chinese authorities placed him under “residential surveillance,” former Legend Biotech Corp. (NASDAQ:LEGN) Chairman and CEO Frank Zhang is returning to the company as chairman. Zhang, who is the company’s founding CEO and co-founder and former chair of its parent GenScript Biotech Corp. (HKEX:1548), replaces Ye “Sally” Wang, who will remain on the board. The company also appointed Tomas Heyman and Li Mao to the board, as independent directors. Heyman was president of the corporate venture capital group of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Mao is CMO of SciClone Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd. (HKEX:6600).

Flagship Pioneering portfolio company Alltrna hired Joanne Protano as CFO. Protano joins from Rubius Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:RUBY), where she was SVP of finance and operations. Before that, she was SVP of finance, new ventures at Flagship. Alltrna is building on recent mRNA momentum with a platform designed to uncover the therapeutic potential of tRNA and turn it into an entirely new therapeutic modality. ...