Calithera Biosciences announced the appointment of Scott Garland to its board of directors. Garland is a 29-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry who most recently served as the president and chief executive officer of recently-acquired Portola Pharmaceuticals. In his most recent role as president and chief executive officer of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Garland led the company through the commercial launch of Andexxa® and a successful acquisition by biopharmaceutical company Alexion. Garland served concurrently as a board member for Karyopharm Therapeutics. Before joining Portola, Garland held multiple marketing and sales roles at leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. At Relypsa, he served first as chief commercial officer, then as president overseeing the U.S. commercial launch of Veltassa® for the treatment of hyperkalemia. Prior to Relypsa, Garland spent three years as chief commercial officer at Exelixis where he led the launch of cabozantinib in medullary thyroid cancer and over nine years at Genentech, including five years as a vice president and national sales director. At Genentech, Mr. Garland led the commercial franchises for two multi-billion dollar therapies – Avastin® and Rituxan®.