Axovant - Various
Axovant announced that it would be appointing no fewer than five new members of staff to its leadership team.
- Greg MacMichael (pictured), formerly global head of cell and gene therapy technical development and manufacturing at Novartis, joins as SVP of technical operations
- Parag Meswani, formerly head of US marketing and diagnostics at Spark Therapeutics, joins as SVP of commercial strategy and operations
- Paul Korner, formerly VP of medical strategy and clinical development at Sarepta Therapeutics, joins as SVP of clinical development
- Greg Stewart, formerly VP of drug delivery at Voyager Therapeutics, joins Axovant as SVP of vector delivery and optimization
- Sean O’Bryan, formerly VP of regulatory affairs at Lysogene, joins as VP of regulatory affairs
The host of new hires comes as Axovant pivots away from developing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and instead focuses its efforts on gene therapies, particularly within neurological and neuromuscular diseases.
In a statement, the company emphasised that the appointments will boost its capabilities within gene therapy manufacturing and vector optimisation. Greg MacMichael will hold the responsibility for overseeing the manufacturing of Axovant’s pipeline.
Pavan Cheruvu, CEO of Axovant, said of the appointments: “Together, they bring decades of experience in gene and cell therapies, which will further strengthen our ability to quickly and effectively deliver on our potentially best-in-class gene therapy pipeline.”