Incyte today announced the appointment of Dr. Dashyant Dhanak, Ph.D. as executive vice president and chief scientific officer, effective December 10, 2018.

Dhanak will succeed Dr. Reid Huber, who has been at Incyte since 2002 and is leaving the company to pursue opportunities in the early-stage life sciences community.

"Reid's contributions to Incyte have been instrumental in its evolution from a start-up operation to the world-class discovery engine of today, and I thank him most sincerely for his commitment and critical thinking over the last 16 years," said Hervé Hoppenot, chief executive officer of Incyte.

"Reid's decision to pursue a different career path has given us the opportunity to recruit a new leader for our discovery team, and Dash brings an ideal mix of discovery and development experience into what I believe is the most innovative and productive group in the industry."

Dhanak joins Incyte from Janssen Research & Development, where he most recently served as Global Head, Discovery Sciences, leading an organization responsible for supporting and enabling the discovery and early development of novel therapeutics. Prior to Janssen, Dr. Dhanak spent 25 years at GlaxoSmithKline.