uniQure Announces Appointment of Ricardo Dolmetsch, Ph.D., as President, Research & Development
August 26 2020 - 6:05AM
uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE), a leading gene therapy company
advancing transformative therapies for patients with severe medical
needs, today announced the appointment of Ricardo Dolmetsch, Ph.D.,
as President, Research and Development, effective September 14,
2020. Dr. Dolmetsch will succeed Sander van Deventer, M.D., Ph.D,
Executive Vice President, Research and Product Development. Robert
Gut, M.D., Ph.D., will move from his role as Chief Medical Officer
after a transition period following the start of Dr. Dolmetsch’s
employment, and the Company plans for Dr. Gut to continue to serve
on the Board of Directors.
“I am thrilled to welcome Ricardo to the uniQure
leadership team at this exciting time for the Company as we
endeavor to aggressively advance our therapies for Huntington’s
disease and other diseases and expand our pipeline of potentially
transformative therapies,” stated Matt Kapusta, chief executive
officer of uniQure. “Ricardo’s unwavering passion for
genetically-defined diseases, deep experience with gene therapy and
strong track record of successfully building a rich pipeline of
preclinical and clinical-stage candidates make him an ideal
successor to lead uniQure’s R&D operations at this moment in
our history.”
“This is an extraordinary time to join uniQure,”
said Dr. Dolmetsch. “I was particularly attracted to the talented
team of innovators that are focused on the singular mission of
transforming patient lives. Not only does the company have a
compelling track record of innovation but I believe it has
exceptional potential with an industry-leading manufacturing and
technology platform” said Dr. Dolmetsch. “Matt and the team
share my commitment to developing treatments for patients with
serious diseases and unmet medical needs. I’m very excited to be
joining a world-class organization working toward the common goal
of delivering gene therapies to patients around the world living
with CNS and rare liver-directed disorders.”
Dr. Dolmetsch joins uniQure from Novartis
Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), the research arm of
Novartis AG, where he served as the Global Head of Neuroscience
since 2013. He has led the development of treatments for
neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, including rare
genetically defined disorders. During his tenure, Dr. Dolmetsch
played an instrumental role in Novartis’ acquisition of AveXis in
2018 and the successful approval of Zolgensma, a commercial gene
therapy for patients with spinal muscular atrophy Type 1. Prior to
NIBR, Dr. Dolmetsch was a Professor at Stanford Medical School and
a Senior Director at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in
Seattle, Washington. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree with honors
from Brown University, earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from
Stanford University and conducted his postdoctoral training at
Harvard University Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston.
Throughout his career, Dr. Dolmetsch has been recognized with
several awards including the National Institute of Health
Director’s Pioneer Award, the Searle Scholar and McKnight Scholar
Awards, the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award and
the Andrew Carnegie Prize in Mind Brain and Behavior.
“On behalf of the Board, I want to sincerely
thank both Sander and Robert for their steadfast leadership and
indispensable contributions over the years,” said Mr.
Kapusta. “As one of our original founders, Sander has been a
pioneer in gene therapy and an invaluable resource for the Company
for more than 20 years. We are deeply grateful for all of
Sander’s contributions and wish him well as he returns to his role
as an operating partner at Forbion. I also want to thank Robert for
his leadership of the clinical development of etranacogene
dezaparvovec, including the very strong execution of the HOPE-B
pivotal trial, as well as successfully advancing AMT-130 into
clinical development for patients with Huntington’s disease. I very
much look forward to continuing to work with Robert on our
Board.”
Dr. Gut has been a member of uniQure’s Board of
Directors since June 2018. In order to continue to serve as a
non-executive member of the Board, under Dutch law and the
Company’s Articles of Association Dr. Gut will be required to
resign as an executive director and be re-elected by the Company’s
shareholders as a non-executive director. The Company expects to
hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting for this purpose in the
fourth quarter of 2020.
About uniQureuniQure is
delivering on the promise of gene therapy – single treatments with
potentially curative results. We are leveraging our modular and
validated technology platform to rapidly advance a pipeline of
proprietary gene therapies to treat patients with hemophilia B,
Huntington's disease, Fabry disease, spinocerebellar ataxia Type 3
and other diseases. www.uniQure.com
uniQure Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact
are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms
such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect,"
"goal," "intend," "look forward to", "may," "plan," "potential,"
"predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar
expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's
beliefs and assumptions and on information available to management
only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, whether we will
aggressively advance our Huntington’s disease or other product
candidates, expand our pipeline of gene therapies, or will
ultimately be able to transform patients’ lives. Our actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements for many reasons, including, without
limitation, risks associated with the impact of the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic on the Company, the wider economy and the health
care system, our Commercialization and License Agreement with CSL
Behring, the regulatory approval of that transaction, our clinical
development activities, clinical results, collaboration
arrangements, regulatory oversight, product commercialization and
intellectual property claims, as well as the risks, uncertainties
and other factors described under the heading "Risk Factors" in
uniQure’s periodic securities filings, including its Annual Report
on Form 10-K filed March 2, 2020 and Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q filed on July 30, 2020. Given these risks, uncertainties
and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, and uniQure assumes no obligation to
update these forward-looking statements, even if new information
becomes available in the future.
uniQure Contacts: |
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FOR INVESTORS: |
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FOR MEDIA: |
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Maria E. Cantor |
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Chiara Russo |
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Tom Malone |
Direct: 339-970-7536 |
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Direct: 617-306-9137 |
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Direct: 339-970-7558 |
Mobile: 617-680-9452 |
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Mobile: 617-306-9137 |
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Mobile: 339-223-8541 |
mcantor@uniQure.com |
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c.russo@uniQure.com |
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t.malone@uniQure.com |
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e39657a4-1799-482f-ab0b-2c72d62f323f
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