Singapore: Teva Pharmaceutical has filled a vacancy on its board of directors by appointing Dr Arie Belldegrun. Dr Belldegrun's term-of-office will extend until Teva's 2013 annual meeting of shareholders.

Dr Belldegrun is a director of the UCLA Institute of Urologic Oncology and professor and chair of Urologic Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, US. Dr Belldegrun also serves as the chairman of the board of Kite Pharma, Arno Therapeutics and TheraCoat.

Dr Belldegrun received his medical degree at the Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University, and conducted his post-doctoral studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He completed his residency in urologic surgery at Harvard Medical School and his surgical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Health (NIH).

Dr Phillip Frost, chairman of the board, Teva Pharmaceutical, said that, "We are pleased to welcome Dr Belldegrun to our board. Arie's extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry both as a doctor, a business leader and an academic will enable him to make significant contributions to the board immediately and help guide us as we look for new and innovative ways to bring medicines to patients around the world and continue to increase value for our shareholders."