Telik, a clinical stage oncology drug development company based in California, which recently merged with MabVax Therapeutics in July, has appointed six new members of the board of directors to help guide the company and its management in developing an expanded product development pipeline post-merger.

J. David Hansen has been MabVax's president, chief executive officer and member of its board of directors since co-founding MabVax in 2006. Previously, Hansen was at Avanir Pharmaceuticals, where he was vice president of commercial development, senior vice president of corporate development and president and chief operations officer of the Avanir Subsidiary Xenerex Biosciences. Hansen also worked at Dura Pharmaceuticals as national sales director, director of marketing and director of business development, and at Merck (Schering-Plough), Key Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Philip O. Livingston, M.D., is a co-founder and has been a member of MabVax's board of directors since 2008. Livingston has been MabVax's chief science officer since 2012.

Jeffrey V. Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D., has been the Theresa and Eugene Lang Professor at the Rockefeller University and head of the Leonard Wagner Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology since 1997.

Kenneth M. Cohen has been on the board of Adamis Pharmaceuticals since 2011. He was a co-founder of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals and was its president and chief executive officer. He also was president and chief executive officer of Synbiotics, a diagnostics company. Previously, Cohen was executive vice president and chief operating officer for Canji, a human gene-therapy company, until its acquisition by Schering-Plough in 1996. Cohen began his career at Eli Lilly.

Paul V. Maier is a member of the board of directors of Apricus Biosciences. Maier was chief financial officer of Sequenom. Previously, Maier was senior vice president and chief financial officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. He also spent six years in various management and finance positions at ICN Pharmaceuticals.

Jim J. Antonopoulos is a principal in Canaccord Genuity's Investment Banking Group.

Michael M. Wick, M.D., Ph.D., has been the company's chairman of the board of directors since 2000. Wick was chief executive officer and president previously, as well as chief operating officer and executive vice president, R&D. Prevously, Wick was senior vice president of research for CV Therapeutics and executive director of oncology/immunology and clinical research at Lederle Laboratories.