Homology Medicines Announces Promotion of Albert Seymour, Ph.D., to President
April 21 2022 - 7:30AM
Homology Medicines, Inc. (Nasdaq: FIXX), a genetic medicines
company, announced today that Albert Seymour, Ph.D., Chief
Scientific Officer, has been promoted to President of Homology. In
addition to his role as CSO, Dr. Seymour will assume broader
responsibilities for additional functional areas, including human
resources, clinical development and operations, and commercial
strategy.
“Albert has fostered a culture of scientific innovation and
execution that brought our first gene therapy candidate to the
clinic within three years from inception, and this was followed
closely by two additional trial initiations, including our first
nuclease-free in vivo gene editing program,” said Arthur Tzianabos,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Homology Medicines. “I look
forward to our continued work together, and I am confident in
Albert’s ability to advance the pipeline while overseeing clinical
execution of our three trials, which is a major focus of near-term
milestones for Homology. I believe Albert’s added responsibilities
will also ensure a seamless collaboration with the new AAV
manufacturing company we formed recently with Oxford Biomedica that
provides us preferred access to high-quality product.”
Dr. Seymour was one of the first employees of Homology and has
served as CSO since joining alongside CEO Dr. Tzianabos in 2016.
Dr. Seymour played an integral role in helping build Homology into
a fully integrated company with capabilities spanning from
discovery to product development and through to commercialization.
Importantly, he drove the translation of the Company’s proprietary
in vivo gene therapy and nuclease-free gene editing platform from
early research and discovery to three clinical development programs
for rare diseases. Under his scientific leadership, Dr. Seymour and
his team forged a new path forward to assess and confirm on- and
off-target gene integration at the molecular level, a critical step
for the field as it continues to develop genetic medicines. His
vision also led to the expansion of Homology’s technology platform
with the recent launch of the GTx-mAb platform, a one-time gene
therapy designed to produce and distribute antibodies from the
liver, an innovative approach that can be applied to develop
therapies for diseases with larger patient populations.
“I joined Homology because I recognized the potential of the
AAVHSC technology to provide unique genetic medicine approaches to
address significant unmet medical need in the rare disease
community, and I am proud of the tremendous accomplishments that
our team has achieved towards this goal,” said Dr. Seymour. “As I
look to the future, I am thrilled to take on a broader role at
Homology that leverages our collective expertise to advance our
product candidates and execute on our three clinical trials,
ultimately seeking to bring innovative genetic medicines to
patients.”
Prior to his time at Homology, Dr. Seymour was the Senior Vice
President and Head of Global Research and Nonclinical Development
at Shire plc, where he led a team to deliver a sustained flow of
rare disease therapeutics from idea to IND and supported the full
R&D portfolio in the areas of toxicology, bioanalytics, drug
metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Prior to that, Dr. Seymour served
as the Vice President and Head of Drug Discovery and Translational
Research at Shire, where he doubled the rare disease discovery
portfolio in three years. Before Shire, he spent 14 years at Pfizer
Inc. leading a team in the application of human genetics and
computational biology to discover and develop therapeutics and
pharmacogenomics strategies in diabetes, inflammatory diseases and
oncology.
About Homology Medicines, Inc.Homology
Medicines, Inc. is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company
dedicated to transforming the lives of patients suffering from rare
diseases by addressing the underlying cause of the disease. The
Company’s clinical programs include HMI-102, an investigational
gene therapy for adults with phenylketonuria (PKU); HMI-103, a gene
editing candidate for PKU; and HMI-203, an investigational gene
therapy for Hunter syndrome. Additional programs focus on
metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), paroxysmal nocturnal
hemoglobinuria (PNH) and other diseases. Homology’s proprietary
platform is designed to utilize its family of 15 human
hematopoietic stem cell-derived adeno-associated virus vectors
(AAVHSCs) to precisely and efficiently deliver genetic medicines in
vivo through a gene therapy or nuclease-free gene editing modality,
as well as to deliver one-time gene therapy to produce antibodies
throughout the body through the GTx-mAb platform. Homology has a
management team with a successful track record of discovering,
developing and commercializing therapeutics with a focus on rare
diseases. Homology believes its initial clinical data and
compelling preclinical data, scientific and product development
expertise and broad intellectual property position the Company as a
leader in genetic medicines. For more information, visit
www.homologymedicines.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release
contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements
contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of
historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements,
including without limitation statements regarding our expectations
surrounding our collaboration with Oxford Biomedica Solutions LLC;
the management transition discussed in this press release; the
potential of our gene therapy and gene editing platforms; and our
position as a leader in the development of genetic medicines. These
statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that
may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations,
including our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and on
general economic conditions; we have and expect to continue to
incur significant losses; our need for additional funding, which
may not be available; failure to identify additional product
candidates and develop or commercialize marketable products; the
early stage of our development efforts; potential unforeseen events
during clinical trials could cause delays or other adverse
consequences; risks relating to the regulatory approval process;
interim, topline and preliminary data may change as more patient
data become available, and are subject to audit and verification
procedures that could result in material changes in the final data;
our product candidates may cause serious adverse side effects;
inability to maintain our collaborations, or the failure of these
collaborations; our reliance on third parties, including for the
manufacture of materials for our research programs, preclinical and
clinical studies; failure to obtain U.S. or international marketing
approval; ongoing regulatory obligations; effects of significant
competition; unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party
reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives; product
liability lawsuits; failure to attract, retain and motivate
qualified personnel; the possibility of system failures or security
breaches; risks relating to intellectual property; and significant
costs incurred as a result of operating as a public company. These
and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk
Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2021 and our other filings with the SEC could cause
actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the
forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such
forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of
the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim
any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views
to change.
Company Contacts:Theresa McNeelyChief
Communications Officer and Patient
Advocatetmcneely@homologymedicines.com781-301-7277Media
Contact:Cara Mayfield Vice President, Patient Advocacy and
Corporate Communications cmayfield@homologymedicines.com
781-691-3510
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