Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that Nancy Thornberry has been appointed to its Board of Directors as an independent director. Ms. Thornberry has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, spanning drug discovery, development and commercialization. She founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Kallyope until 2021 and remains on its Board of Directors and is Chair of Research & Development.

Prior to joining Kallyope, Ms. Thornberry spent more than 30 years at Merck & Co. Inc., most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Franchise Head, Diabetes and Endocrinology, with responsibility for discovery and clinical research in diabetes, obesity and women?s health. Among her many notable scientific accomplishments, Ms. Thornberry initiated and led Merck?s dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) project, which resulted in the discovery and commercialization of JANUVIA® for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, the best-selling oral product franchise in Merck's history.

She also identified the first caspase, interleukin-1ß converting enzyme (ICE/caspase-1). In addition to her role at Kallyope, Ms. Thornberry serves on the Board of Directors of Schrödinger Inc., Denali Therapeutics Inc. and the New York Genome Center, and as an Advisor to GV (Google Ventures). Ms. Thornberry holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and biology from Muhlenberg College.