Zentalis hires former Celgene corporate secretary as CLO

Alexis Pinto has joined Nasdaq-listed Zentalis Pharmaceuticals as chief legal officer (CLO).

Pinto is the company’s first CLO, according to a spokesperson. She was most recently corporate vice president and corporate secretary at Celgene Corporation, which became a Bristol Myers Squibb company last year. In her role at Celgene, Pinto provided legal support to the business development and global alliance management groups and served as lead counsel on transactions including the acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Before joining Celgene, Pinto spent 18 years at Merck, where her last role was managing counsel of corporate transactions, in which she led, structured and managed sales, acquisitions, licensing and joint venture transactions, including the divestiture of Merck’s consumer care business to Bayer. During her time with the company she held a series of increasingly senior roles starting as a labor and employment attorney and moving into licensing, vaccines, M&A and business development roles.

Zentalis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company concentrating on small molecule therapeutics that target biological pathways of cancers.

‘We are thrilled to welcome Alexis to Zentalis, as her depth of knowledge in dealmaking and leading legal teams within the life science sector will be a great asset to the company,’ CEO and chair Dr Anthony Sun says in a statement. ‘Alexis will be responsible for the legal function across the organization, in addition to advising the Zentalis team on all legal affairs related to our growing pipeline of differentiated oncology candidates.’

Pinto adds: ‘I am honored to join an organization that is committed to developing best-in-class therapeutics that have the potential to revolutionize the lives of cancer patients.’