Zai Lab Limited (ZLAB) Appoints Michel Vounatsos To Its Board

Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ: ZLAB) today announced that Michel Vounatsos has been appointed to its Board of Directors, effective January 7, 2023. Mr. Vounatsos brings to the Board extensive global leadership and management experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including more than 25 years of service at leading companies. His expertise includes significant commercial experience in China and worldwide in the areas of primary care and neuroscience.

“We are delighted to welcome Michel Vounatsos to the Zai Lab Board of Directors,” said Dr. Samantha Du, Founder, Chairperson, and CEO of Zai Lab. “Michel has a wealth of commercial experience, globally and in China, which will be invaluable to the Board and our executive team as the Company continues its efforts to develop and commercialize the products in its pipeline to serve patients in China and around the world. In particular, his deep development and commercial experience in neuroscience will significantly benefit the Company as we continue to enhance our expertise in this key therapeutic area.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Zai Lab Board of Directors at such a pivotal time in the company’s growth,” said Michel Vounatsos. “Zai Lab has earned its reputation as a partner of choice in China where it already has four medicines on the market and plans for three more launches in the near term. I look forward to contributing to Zai Lab’s future growth and success, particularly with respect to its strategic direction and commercialization efforts both in China and globally.”

Mr. Vounatsos served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Biogen, Inc. from January 2017 to November 2022, after serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer in 2016. Prior to joining Biogen, Mr. Vounatsos held various roles of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co. from 1996 to 2016. While at Merck, Mr. Vounatsos was President of MSD China from 2008 to 2012, leading all operations in China, creating a long-term growth strategy and several strategic alliances, and helping MSD China grow and significantly increase sales. Mr. Vounatsos later served as President, Primary Care & Merck Customer Centricity. In this role, he was responsible for strategic and business development decisions to grow Merck’s primary care business. Mr. Vounatsos previously held commercial leadership positions across Europe for Merck. Prior to Merck, Mr. Vounatsos held management positions at Ciba-Geigy, a pharmaceutical company, from 1990 to 1996. Mr. Vounatsos has served as a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of PerkinElmer, Inc., a global scientific technology and life science research company, since 2020 and chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee since October 2022. He also serves on the advisory board of Tsinghua University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Beijing, China and as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Liryc, the Electrophysiology and Heart Modeling Institute at the University of Bordeaux.

Mr. Vounatsos received an MBA from HEC School of Management in Paris, France and his C.S.C.T. certificate in Medicine from Université Victor Segalen, Bourdeaux II, also in France.

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