DUBLIN and MYSTIC, Conn., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Amarin Corporation plc , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the treatment of cardiovascular disease, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jan van Heek to its board of directors as a non-executive director. As part of his board role, Mr. van Heek has been appointed Chairman of the Company's Audit Committee.
Prior to establishing BioPoint, Mr. van Heek spent more than 18 years at Genzyme Corporation, most recently as Senior Advisor to the CEO and senior management team. Mr. van Heek joined Genzyme in 1991, where as Executive Vice President, he was largely responsible for establishing and building its worldwide therapeutics, surgical and genetic testing businesses.
"Jan van Heek has a wealth of industry experience derived from helping to build one of the world's largest and most successful biotech companies," commented Joseph Zakrzewski, Executive Chairman of Amarin. "We are very pleased he will bring this knowledge to support Amarin as we strive to create a valuable company focused on new products to improve the treatment of cardiovascular diseases."
Mr. van Heek is currently a board member of PanGenetics BV in the Netherlands and was a board member of and Chairman of the Audit Committee of ViaCell Corporation, a US public company, from 2002 until it was sold to Perkin Elmer Corporation in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, he was Chairman of the Board of BioVex Inc. in Woburn, MA and where he also chaired its Audit and Compensation Committees. Mr. van Heek also served on the board of Zelos Therapeutics, Inc. between 2004 and 2008.
Amarin Corporation plc
