CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LogicBio Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOGC), a genome editing company focused on developing medicines to durably treat rare diseases, today announced a significant expansion of its leadership team to continue developing its technology platform in preparation for moving its lead product candidate, LB-001, into the clinic.
“We are taking a significant step to advance our programs by building out experienced CMC, technology development, program management and clinical teams as we continue to enhance our core technology and move forward with LB-001,” said LogicBio President and CEO Fred Chereau.
The new hires will also expand the Company’s significant strengths in the development, manufacturing and characterization of viral vectors.
In addition to the leadership team expansion, LogicBio has tripled the size of its lab space with a recent move into new facilities at 99 Erie Street in Cambridge. The new offices and lab will support continued growth of the research team and the development of state-of-the-art analytics to characterize and advance product candidates using the Company’s proprietary technology platform, GeneRide™. The GeneRide platform harnesses the native process of homologous recombination to enable the site-specific integration of a therapeutic transgene.
“We’re thrilled about our new lab,” Mr. Chereau said. “Our GeneRide platform is modular in nature, and the expanded R&D space will allow us to continue advancing the early stage liver-targeted programs that fill out our pipeline.”
LogicBio’s lead program, LB-001, is designed to treat methylmalonic acidemia (MMA), a life-threatening rare disease characterized by the toxic buildup of metabolites starting in early childhood. The company continues to develop additional programs focusing on other rare diseases that can be addressed with genomic editing of hepatic cells. Initial proof of concepts in preclinical models have already been published in diseases such as hemophilia B and Crigler-Najjar syndrome.
The hires announced today fill newly created roles:
- Matthias Hebben, Ph.D., will serve as vice president, technology development. Dr. Hebben brings nearly 20 years of leadership experience in virology, specifically in the development, manufacturing and characterization of viral vectors, most recently at Genethon.
- Marie Payton, MBA, will serve as vice president, clinical operations. She comes to LogicBio with deep expertise in clinical operations and medical affairs and has held key leadership roles, including director of global medical affairs operations at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
- Carol Sherako, MBA, PMP, joins the team as senior director, program management, bringing strong experience in biotech project management, including 11 years as director of project management for Genzyme and Sanofi-Genzyme.
- Sven Loebrich, Ph.D., comes aboard as director of process development. Dr. Loebrich brings 15 years of academic and industry experience, including CMC project management and process development from his work at ImmunoGen.
- Lauren Drouin, Ph.D., has been named associate director, analytical development. Dr. Drouin comes to LogicBio with more than 10 years of academic and industry experience in AAV biology and vector analytics, most recently at Voyager Therapeutics, where she focused on assay design, development and qualification.
About LogicBio Therapeutics
LogicBio Therapeutics is a genome editing company focused on developing medicines to durably treat rare diseases in patients with significant unmet medical needs using GeneRide™, its proprietary technology platform. GeneRide enables the site-specific integration of a therapeutic transgene in a nuclease-free and promoterless approach by relying on the native process of homologous recombination to drive lifelong expression. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., LogicBio is committed to developing medicines that will transform the lives of pediatric patients and their families.
For more information, please visit www.logicbio.com.
Contacts:
Investors:
Michael Schaffzin
Stern Investor Relations
michael@sternir.com
212-362-1200
Media:
Stephanie Simon
Ten Bridge Communications
stephanie@tenbridgecommunications.com
617-581-9333