SAN FRANCISCO, May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Audentes
Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BOLD), a biotechnology company
focused on developing and commercializing gene therapy products for
patients living with serious, life-threatening rare diseases, today
announced the appointment of John T.
Gray, Ph.D. to Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific
Officer. Dr. Gray joined Audentes in 2014 as Vice President,
Research and Development, and has successfully built and led teams
across the Company's molecular biology, process development, and
nonclinical research and development functions.
"We are very pleased to announce John's well-earned appointment
to the role of Chief Scientific Officer," stated Matthew R. Patterson, President and Chief
Executive Officer. "John is recognized as an innovator who
has made significant contributions to advancing the science of AAV
gene therapy. Today's announcement comes as a result of the
key leadership role he has played in building our world-class
research organization, developing our manufacturing capabilities
and advancing our pipeline of novel product candidates."
Dr. Gray joined Audentes with over 20 years of experience
designing genetic therapies and vaccines, and developing
manufacturing processes for those products. Immediately prior
to Audentes, Dr. Gray served as the Director of Vector Production
and Development at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital where he
led a team devoted to advancing gene therapy vector science.
He was a key contributor to the Hemophilia B gene therapy project,
for which he designed the self-complementary AAV Factor IX vector
expression cassette and developed the GMP production process used
to manufacture the clinical vector. During his tenure at St.
Jude, 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 utilizing
both AAV and lentiviral vectors. 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.
About Audentes Therapeutics, Inc.
Audentes
Therapeutics (Nasdaq: BOLD) is a biotechnology company focused on
developing and commercializing gene therapy products for patients
living with serious, life-threatening rare diseases. We have
four product candidates in development, AT132 for the treatment of
X-Linked Myotubular Myopathy (XLMTM), AT342 for the treatment of
Crigler-Najjar Syndrome, AT982 for the treatment of Pompe disease,
and AT307 for the treatment of the CASQ2 subtype of
Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia
(CASQ2-CPVT). We are a focused, experienced and passionate
team committed to forging strong, global relationships with the
patient, research and medical communities.
For more information regarding Audentes, please visit
www.audentestx.com.
Audentes Contacts:
Investor Contact:
Thomas Soloway, CFO
415.818.1040
ir@audentestx.com
Media Contact:
Paul Laland
415.519.6610
media@audentestx.com
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SOURCE Audentes Therapeutics, Inc.