ESSA Pharma Inc. announced the appointment of Lauren Merendino, M.B.A., to its Board of Directors. Ms. Merendino is a leading biopharmaceutical executive who brings over 25 years of commercial experience spanning 20+ disease states, including 15 years of leadership for oncology-specific portfolios. Ms. Merendino recently joined Day One Biopharmaceuticals as Chief Commercial Officer, prior to which she was Chief Commercial Officer at Myovant Sciences.

In that role, she led the Commercial organization including sales, marketing, market access and analytics, to drive the successful launches of two products across three indications within two years' time. Previously, Ms. Merendino served as the Vice President of Neurological Rare Diseases at Genentech Inc., where she was led a cross-functional team to launch products in the neurological rare disease therapeutic area and collaboration efforts across marketing, medical affairs and government affairs. Ms. Merendino also held positions of increasing authority at Genentech in commercial organization across sales, marketing and strategy, with a focus in oncology.

Throughout her career, she has built broad experience in national sales, marketing, as well as commercial strategies for molecules in early development and business development deals. She earned her B.S. degree in Microbiology from Pennsylvania State University and her M.B.A. in Marketing and Management from New York University.