NATICK, Mass. & SHANGHAI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pillar Biosciences, an innovative next-generation sequencing (NGS) solutions in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) company, today announced the appointment of Eric Lai, Ph.D. to the Board of Directors. Dr. Lai brings more than 20 years of experience in drug and IVD molecular diagnostic development to the team at Pillar Biosciences.

Dr. Lai was previously Senior Vice President (SVP) of Genomic Medicine at Takeda Pharmaceutical. Prior to Takeda, he served as SVP of Research & Development at Gen-Probe (acquired by Hologic) and Vice President (VP) of Pharmacogenetics at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Lai focused on clinical applications of Pharmacogenomics in drug development and safety. In 2002, he discovered the association of HLA5701 to Abacavir hypersensitivity. This discovery is frequently cited in FDA guidance as one of the most important demonstrations of precision medicine.

“I am excited to join the Board at Pillar Biosciences, to support the advancement of high-quality oncology diagnostic testing to enable precision medicine as the first option for every patient,” said Dr. Eric Lai, Board Member, Pillar Biosciences. “Cancer testing should be provided closest to where a patient resides, and I look forward to working with the Pillar team to accelerate the development of innovative cancer diagnostics to providers and partners, and increase access to cancer testing in community centers.”

“Eric brings invaluable expertise to our team at Pillar, as we work to increase access to precision medicine,” said Gang Song, Ph.D., Founder and CEO at Pillar Biosciences. “We are committed to delivering high quality, accurate, IVD testing to enable better treatment-decisions for all cancer patients.”

Dr. Lai received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Columbia University and conducted his post-doctoral training at Dr. Lee Hood’s laboratory at CalTech in the early days of the Human Genome Project. He was the co-scientific leader of The SNP Consortium and the Severe Adverse Reaction Consortium.

About Pillar Biosciences

Pillar Biosciences is a global oncology solutions company delivering in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) that provide accurate, robust, timely, clinically actionable insights to guide treatment decisions throughout a patient’s continuum of care. Our mission is to enable access to high quality, affordable, specialty NGS testing, performed by any NGS laboratory as clinical grade tests, closer to home, for all patients. Pillar has operations in Natick, MA and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit www.pillar-biosciences.com.