Alchemia names new chairman

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has appointed 30-year life sciences veteran Santo Costa as non-executive chairman.

Costa will assume his new role at the beginning of March. He will take over from interim chairman Nathan Drona, who will remain on the board as a non-executive record.

Drona had himself been standing in for Mel Bridges, who retired in July after 10 years in the role.

Over the course of his career, Costa has held senior roles including president and COO of Quintiles Transnational and senior vice president, administration and general counsel of Glaxo. He has also sat on the boards of multiple public biotech and healthcare companies.

“I am extremely pleased to have the opportunity to join the board as chairman during this exciting stage of development for Alchemia,” Costa said.

“This calendar year promises to be one of the most eventful in the company’s history, as it progresses the ongoing Phase III trial of HA-Irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer.”

Alchemia was recently cleared to continue with the phase III trial after the data safety monitoring board completed a review of safety data from all 390 patients participating.

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) shares were trading 0.86% lower at $0.575 as of around 1.30 pm on Tuesday.