Akcea Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKCA) appointed Carla Poulson as chief human resources officer. Poulson was most recently vice president, senior human resources business partner at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX). Her prior experience includes roles at grocery retail group Ahold, Pepsi Bottling Group, and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM).
Boston-based Akcea, a spinoff of Carlsbad, CA-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IONS), is developing drugs for cardiometabolic lipid disorders.