Date: 2014-10-01
Type of information: Nomination
Compound: vice president
Company: Audentes Therapeutics (USA - CA)
Therapeutic area: Rare diseases - Genetic diseases
Type agreement: nomination
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Details:
- • On October 1, 2014, Audentes Therapeutics has announced the continued expansion of its leadership team, including the appointment of John T. Gray, PhD., as Vice President, Research and Development. Dr. Gray brings more than 20 years of gene therapy research and manufacturing experience to Audentes. John T. Gray joins Audentes with over 20 years of experience designing genetic therapies and vaccines, and developing manufacturing processes for those products. For 11 years prior to joining Audentes, Dr. Gray was the Director of Vector Production and Development at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where he led a team devoted to advancing the gene therapy vector science. In the area of lentiviral vector production, his team derived the GPRG stable cell line, the first such line to be used to successfully produce an HIV-based vector tested in a human clinical trial (for treatment of X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). He also contributed significantly to the Hemophilia B gene therapy project, for which he designed the self-complementary AAV Factor IX vector expression cassette and developed the production process used to manufacture the first two batches of clinical vector. During his tenure at St. Jude, which began in 2003, Dr. Gray also worked on Chimeric Antigen Receptor modified cell therapy, lysosomal storage disorder gene therapy, and multiple hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell gene therapy projects. Prior to joining St. Jude, Dr. Gray served as the assistant director of the Harvard Gene Therapy Initiative and prior to that, worked at Pfizer Animal Health designing bacterial and viral vectors for vaccine applications. Dr. Gray has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
- In addition to Dr. Gray, Audentes has appointed Mary Newman as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Dawn Blessing as Vice President, Corporate Development. Ms. Newman brings over 25 years of experience in regulatory affairs, and research and development, within the biotechnology industry. She joins Audentes after serving 7 years at SARcode Inc. (acquired by Shire Ltd.), most recently as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance. Ms. Newman’s responsibilities included oversight of global regulatory strategic development, all primary regulatory agency interactions, and quality assurance for SARcode products. She previously held various management positions, with increasing responsibilities in Regulatory Affairs, at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., Berlex Inc. (now Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. Inc.), and Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Johnson and Johnson). Also at BioMarin, Ms. Newman oversaw the development and approval of Kuvan (sapropterin HCl) for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), Naglazyme (galsulfase) for mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) VI, and supported the final approval of Aldurazyme (laronidase) for MPS I. She has also held various leadership roles in research and development in oncology, neurology, and antifungal therapeutic areas. Ms. Newman earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Oregon State University.
- Ms. Blessing joins Audentes with more than 18 years of experience in biotechnology finance, business development, and alliance management. Over this period, Ms. Blessing focused on programs for rare diseases and the application of genetic information to drug development. Ms. Blessing served as Senior Director, Business Development and Alliance Management at 23andMe Inc., a personal genetics company. In her role at 23andMe, she led multiple genomic research programs with partners in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to 23andMe, Ms. Blessing spent 8 years in Business and Corporate Development at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., originating or leading successful licensing efforts in multiple therapeutics areas for rare diseases, including preclinical and clinical-stage products. Prior to her role in industry, Ms. Blessing was a Biotechnology Equity Research analyst at Cowen and Company LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Needham and Company LLC. Ms. Blessing earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Richmond and a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
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