Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Catherine Owen has been appointed to its board of directors, effective June 13, 2023. Agios also announced that, following a collaborative succession planning process, John Maraganore, Ph.D., who has served as a valuable board member and advisor to the company since 2011, will step down from the board of directors, effective immediately, and that Kaye Foster, who has served as a member of the board of directors since 2014, will assume the role of lead independent director. Catherine has an illustrious track record of delivering value to patients around the world through her leadership of U.S. and global market commercialization strategies and teams at well known, large pharmaceutical companies.

Her expertise will be a tremendous asset to Agios as strive to transform the lives of patients with PK deficiency, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, myelodysplastic syndromes and beyond, said Brian Goff, chief executive officer of Agios. Ms. Owen brings to Agios nearly 30 years of experience in the industry and deep expertise in commercializing transformative medicines both in the U.S. and globally. In her current role as senior vice president and general manager, U.S. commercialization at Bristol Myers Squibb, Ms. Owen leads the company's cardiovascular, immunology and oncology U.S. commercialization efforts, which contributed more than one-third of the company's total revenue in 2022 exceeding $17 billion, and oversees a team of more than 2,500 employees.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Owen was senior vice president, major markets, at Bristol Myers Squibb, responsible for the company's business in the largest global markets including Europe, Japan and Canada. In this role, she also led multiple new product launches in multiple sclerosis, multiple myeloma, lung cancer, renal cancer and ulcerative colitis. Previously, Ms. Owen was a senior executive at Johnson &Johnson.

During her more than 25 years there, she held leadership roles in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and corporate innovation in the U.K., the U.S., Europe and global organizations. In her last role, she was president, immunology, U.S. at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, leading brands such as Stelara, Remicade, Simponi and Tremfya, serving patients within the areas of dermatology, gastroenterology and rheumatology. Ms. Owen has an honors degree in pharmacy from the University of Manchester, U.K., is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and obtained a post-graduate diploma in marketing from the University of London.

She has received numerous awards including the Medical Marketing and Media (MM+M) Hall of Femme Award in 2020 and the Healthcare Businesswomens Association Luminary Award in 2018.