Tetiana Taran

Tetiana Taran, MD
VP, Franchise Global Program Head, Oncology Global Development
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Dr. Taran, MD, has the position of VP Franchise Global Program Head, at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. She is responsible for all aspects related to late stage development the breast cancer portfolio. During the last 15 years Dr. Taran has led numerous development teams that conducted clinical trials and registration of important oncology drugs in the US, EU, Japan and other countries. She worked with cancer treatment innovations such as monoclonal antibodies (Avastin, Herceptin) and small molecule drug (Afinitor). In each role taken by Dr. Taran at Novartis, she has been accountable for a key program which changes the standard of care for the treatment of cancer patients. For the Afinitor program, Dr.Taran led the breast cancer program as well as other indications. This led to the first approved agent with a new mechanism of action for patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer in more than 20 years. In 2015 Dr.Taran took on a new challenge in leading the clinical team for the Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy program. This new therapy is at the leading edge of immune-oncology, whereby immune cells taken from the affected patient are re-engineered to express a T-cell receptor which can recognize the patient’s own cancer. The individualized nature of this therapy makes it complex as well. Dr. Taran has lead her clinical team for the first full BLA filing for any company for this new and complex therapy. Dr.Taran was awarded multiple Pharma development awards at Novartis including Novartis president award.