Blueprint Genetics strengthens its pharmaceutical expertise with new Chairman Hilde Furberg and by appointing Guido Oelkers as a Senior Advisor

December 5, 2018

Blueprint Genetics has gained worldwide momentum and continued global growth in the field of clinical genetic testing of rare inherited diseases. As one of the fastest growing clinical genetic testing businesses globally, Blueprint Genetics has a customer base spanning more than 40 countries.

Today, Blueprint Genetics is proud to announce the appointment of Hilde Furberg as Chairman of the Board, and Guido Oelkers as a Senior Advisor, both of who bring decades of experience to support Blueprint Genetics’ strategic initiatives in the rare disease pharmaceuticals space.

Mrs. Hilde Furberg, previously Head of Rare Disease Europe at Sanofi Genzyme, has an extensive background in rare disease pharmaceuticals. Mr. Guido Oelkers, currently the CEO of Swedish Orphan Biovitrium (Sobi), has a long track record in pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, having held various CEO and executive roles.

“We are happy and privileged to see our team strengthened by their experience and expertise. Blueprint has focused on bringing unrivalled quality, accessibility and transparency in genetic testing to rare disease patients worldwide. Now, the quality and scalability of genetic testing has matured enough for us to start increasing our work on rare disease pharma projects, driving the adoption of novel diagnostic and treatment options”, says Blueprint Genetics CEO Tommi Lehtonen.

“I am thrilled to join Blueprint Genetics, a company that I knew for its reputation of high quality and clinical integrity. After getting to know the team and the company in more depth, I am really looking forward to supporting the company in its next strategic step”, continues Hilde Furberg.

Ville Koskenvuo, the Company’s Chairman since inception, will continue as a Board Member and comments: “For the past six years, it has been a great pleasure to work closely with the Blueprint team. This has been a period of very rapid growth, and I am very excited to turn a new page for the company with our rare disease pharma strategy.”

Hilde Furberg is an independent consultant and a professional board member. She has broad senior leadership experience, coming from her 35 years in sales, marketing, strategy and general management roles in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Her experience is in different areas of specialty care, and from small to large global companies. Hilde has worked in companies like Baxter and Genzyme, and she was most recently the European Head of Rare Diseases for Sanofi Genzyme. Hilde has also been a board member of Probi, Pronova, Clavis and Algeta. She is currently also an industrial advisor to Investinor and a board member of BerGenBio, Calliditas and Tappin.

Guido Oelkers is currently the CEO of Swedish Orphan Biovitrium, a listed orphan drug company. He has extensive experience from pharmaceutical and health care companies including roles as CEO of BSN Medical, CEO of the Swedish medical device company Gambro, CEO of the specialty pharmaceutical company Invida and a number of executive commercial operations roles in companies such as Nycomed, DKSH Group and Aventis (formerly Hoechst), where he began his career.

Further information:
CEO Tommi Lehtonen, tommi.lehtonen@blueprintgenetics.com
Communication manager Juulia Simonen, juulia.simonen@blueprintgenetics.com, tel. +358503059018

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