Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AXGT), a clinical-stage
company developing innovative gene therapies for neurological
diseases, today announced the appointment of Kristiina Vuori, M.D.,
Ph.D., to its Board of Directors and the promotion of Parag. V.
Meswani, Pharm.D., from SVP, Commercial Strategy & Operations
to Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective October 6, 2020.
“We are thrilled to welcome Kristiina to our
Board and to recognize the impact Parag has made while serving as
our head of Commercial strategy,” said Pavan Cheruvu, M.D., Chief
Executive Officer of Axovant. “Kristiina is a recognized
scientific leader who has made significant contributions in the
fields of genetics and cancer biology while providing exceptional
leadership during her tenure as President of the Sanford Burnham
Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. We believe her scientific
prowess combined with her diverse leadership experiences will be an
ideal complement to our Board as we navigate exciting new
milestones in our innovative gene therapy programs. Additionally,
as we continue to advance our clinical-stage pipeline, we are
excited to promote Parag to CCO. His deep commercial experience at
the intersection of neurology and genetic medicine from companies
such as Biogen and Spark Therapeutics uniquely qualify him to lead
commercialization at Axovant in the years ahead.”
Atul Pande, M.D., Chair of Axovant’s Nominating
and Corporate Governance Committee, said “Kristiina, a respected
scientific leader, is an important addition to our Board. In
addition to her academic track-record, Kristiina strengthens our
Board by enhancing our diversity and marks a new phase at Axovant
with a majority independent Board of Directors. This appointment
demonstrates our commitment at Axovant to build an organization
that recognizes diversity of ideas and representation as critical
components of our long-term growth and success. We look forward to
Kristiina’s contributions and guidance over the years ahead.”
Dr. Vuori said, “I am honored to join the Board
of Axovant. I was drawn to Axovant’s biology-driven approach to
gene therapy and am encouraged by the emerging data which suggest
their programs have the potential to provide transformative
treatments to patients with devastating neurological diseases. I
look forward to collaborating with the other directors on Axovant’s
Board and am thrilled to provide my guidance as the Company
advances through exciting data readouts and the initiation of new
clinical programs in the coming months.”
Dr. Vuori is a Professor at the Sanford Burnham
Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), where she also serves as
President and member of the Board of Directors. SBP is one of the
largest non-profit biomedical research centers in the U.S. with a
focus on cancer, neurodegeneration, inflammatory and infectious
diseases, heart disease and rare children’s disorders. Dr. Vuori is
a globally recognized cancer researcher who has delineated the
molecular pathways that regulate cancer cell survival, motility,
metastasis, and drug responsiveness. She has published over 100
research papers in leading scientific journals and has been awarded
numerous research grants from organizations including the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI) and
Department of Defense. Dr. Vuori currently serves or has served on
the Board of Directors for American Association for Cancer
Research, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine,
California Breast Cancer Research Program, Sanford Consortium for
Regenerative Medicine, UCSD Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center, and
Bionano Genomics, Inc. She was director of WebMD, Inc. until it was
sold to KKR in 2017. Dr. Vuori earned her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at
University of Oulu, Finland. Following internship and residency,
she completed research fellowship at SBP and was appointed to
faculty in 1996. She was appointed Deputy Director of the
Institute's NCI-Designated Cancer Center in 2003, and subsequently
served as Director of the Cancer Center in 2005-2013. She
additionally served as SBP’s EVP for Scientific Affairs in
2008-2010. Dr. Vuori has been President of SBP since 2010.
Dr. Meswani, the Company’s newly promoted CCO,
has extensive experience in leading new product planning and
commercialization, having served in various commercial and medical
affairs leadership roles at Novartis, Pharmacia, Biogen, and most
recently, Spark Therapeutics. At Spark, he served as head of U.S.
marketing and diagnostics, leading the development and execution of
the brand strategy for LUXTURNA™, the first approved gene therapy
in the United States. Prior to Spark, he held several corporate and
franchise leadership roles at Biogen, including serving in the
office of the CEO, commercial operations, the multiple sclerosis
franchise, and the U.S. hemophilia franchise. He has been at
Axovant since November 2018, leading new product planning, investor
relations, patient advocacy and business development efforts. Dr.
Meswani earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University and his Pharm.D.
and B.S. from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers
University.
Dr. Meswani added, “With the recently announced
encouraging data for Axo-Lenti-PD and upcoming clinical readouts,
Axovant is at a critical inflection point in its transformation
into a leading CNS gene therapy company. I’m incredibly excited to
work alongside the entire team to realize the promise of our
pipeline as we prepare the Company and educate the market about the
potential benefits and value of our gene therapies for patients,
caregivers, and physicians.”
Axovant would like to acknowledge Bench
International for providing a pool of highly distinguished
candidates from which Dr. Vuori was selected.
About
Axovant Gene
Therapies
Axovant Gene Therapies is a clinical-stage gene
therapy company focused on developing a pipeline of innovative
product candidates for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. Our
current pipeline of gene therapy candidates targets GM1
gangliosidosis, GM2 gangliosidosis (also known as Tay-Sachs disease
and Sandhoff disease), and Parkinson’s disease. Axovant is focused
on accelerating product candidates into and through clinical trials
with a team of experts in gene therapy development and through
external partnerships with leading gene therapy organizations. For
more information, visit www.axovant.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal
securities laws. The use of words such as “intended”, "may,"
"might," "will," "would," "should," "expect," "believe,"
"estimate," and other similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. For example, all statements Axovant
makes regarding costs associated with its operating activities are
forward-looking. All forward-looking statements are based on
estimates and assumptions by Axovant’s management that, although
Axovant believes to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that
Axovant expected. Such risks and uncertainties include, among
others, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our operations, the
initiation and conduct of preclinical studies and clinical trials;
the availability of data from clinical trials; the scaling up of
manufacturing, the expectations for regulatory submissions and
approvals; the continued development of our gene therapy product
candidates and platforms; Axovant’s scientific approach and general
development progress; and the availability or commercial potential
of Axovant’s product candidates. These statements are also subject
to a number of material risks and uncertainties that are described
in Axovant’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 2020, as
updated by its subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the
date on which it was made. Axovant undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Media contact:Josephine
Belluardo, Ph.D.LifeSci
Communications646-751-4361jo@lifescicomms.commedia@axovant.com
Investor
Contact:
Parag MeswaniAxovant Gene Therapies Ltd.(212)
547-2523media@axovant.cominvestors@axovant.com
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