CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codiak BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDAK), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the development of exosome-based therapeutics as a new class of medicines, announced today it has appointed Anne-Virginie Eggimann, M.Sc., to its board of directors. Ms. Eggimann is currently Senior Vice President, Regulatory Science at bluebird bio, Inc. where she leads global regulatory strategy and advises cross-disciplinary teams on identifying efficient development pathways to bring bluebird’s innovative gene therapy products to patients.
“Anne-Virginie has a successful leadership track record in entrepreneurial environments and in-depth knowledge of both the US and EU regulatory requirements, making her an excellent complement to the expertise of our existing board,” said Douglas E. Williams, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Codiak BioSciences. “Her perspectives and experience working with regulatory authorities to bring new platform technologies to market will be invaluable as we chart our next stage of growth building Codiak as a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company.”
Ms. Eggimann brings 20 years of experience in the development of innovative medicinal products to Codiak’s board, with a notable record of designing and executing robust strategies for bringing oncology products, cell and gene therapies, and orphan drugs from early development to market. During her nearly 10-year tenure at bluebird bio, she has played a key role in partnering with regulators to bring the company’s pioneering gene therapy products in severe genetic diseases and oncology from preclinical development to registration, leading to recent approvals in Europe and the US. Ms. Eggimann has shaped bluebird’s regulatory policy efforts and is actively engaged with regulatory authorities and external experts to continue to positively influence the evolving regulatory environment for the field of cell and gene therapy. Prior to joining bluebird, Ms. Eggimann was an Executive Director at Voisin Consulting, leading complex development projects with biotech companies in both the US and Europe. During her decade with Voisin, she contributed to the organization’s global growth from three employees to more than 70. Ms. Eggimann holds a Master of Science from the UCLA School of Public Health, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
“Codiak’s work since inception to rigorously define exosomes, engineer and manufacture them with intentionally-chosen properties, and investigate their utility across a range of disease areas is an important contribution to the therapeutic exosome field and has opened the door to broad opportunities for drug development,” said Ms. Eggimann. “With this foundation, and a growing body of preclinical and clinical data validating this approach, I believe Codiak is well positioned to bring potentially transformative therapies to patients with significant unmet needs. I look forward to partnering with the board and Codiak’s talented team for this next phase of growth.”
About Codiak BioSciences
Codiak is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the development of exosome-based therapeutics, a new class of medicines with the potential to transform the treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases with high unmet medical need. By leveraging the biology of exosomes as natural intercellular transfer mechanisms, Codiak has developed its proprietary engEx™ Platform to expand upon the innate properties of exosomes to design, engineer and manufacture novel exosome therapeutic candidates. Codiak has utilized its engEx Platform to generate a deep pipeline of engineered exosomes aimed at treating a broad range of disease areas, spanning oncology, neuro-oncology, neurology, neuromuscular disease and infectious disease.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among other things, statements concerning the development and therapeutic potential of the Company’s engEx Platform, engEx product candidates and engineered exosomes generally. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Codiak’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties and other important factors in Codiak’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is current as of the date of this report, and Codiak undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.