AviadoBio Appoints Dr. David Cooper as Chief Medical Officer
- A neurosurgeon with more than 20 years’ biopharmaceutical experience and proven expertise in gene therapy and rare diseases
- Has supported multiple successful clinical development programs leading to four BLA submissions and product launches
London, UK; Tuesday, August 2, 2022 — AviadoBio, a pioneering, pre-clinical stage gene therapy company focused on developing and delivering transformative medicines for people with neurodegenerative disorders, today announced the appointment of David Cooper, MD, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
Dr. Cooper joins AviadoBio from uniQure, Inc where he was Vice President, Clinical Development, working to translate preclinical gene therapy assets to clinic and execute on multiple Phase I – III clinical programs. This included the pioneering first human dose studies in US and EU for intraparenchymal gene therapy for early-stage Huntington’s Disease, AMT 130. Prior to uniQure, Dr Cooper spent the majority of his industry career at Novo Nordisk within the hemophilia and rare bleeding disorders space as a key contributor to strategic clinical development planning, trial execution and life cycle management. He served as uniQure’s clinical lead on the hemophilia B gene therapy (Hemgenix) through the BLA/MAA submissions, and supported four successful BLA submissions and product launches in the hemophilia therapeutic area at Novo Nordisk.
“David brings a uniquely strong set of skills and experience to AviadoBio. He has a proven track record in the design and implementation of complex clinical development programs in gene therapy and in rare diseases. I have no doubt he will make a tremendous impact as we advance our gene therapies for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) into the clinic,” said Lisa Deschamps, Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Cooper commented, “As a neurosurgeon, I have sadly seen the devastating impact neurodegenerative diseases have on patients and their families. For diseases with a genetic mutation, gene therapies offer the best route to a transformative one-time treatment. I believe AviadoBio’s neuroanatomy-led approach to developing best-in-class gene therapies has the potential to overcome the critical challenges in delivering safe and effective doses of gene therapy to the central nervous system. I am very excited to be joining the Company and look forward to working to advance its candidates through clinical development and, ultimately, to transform the lives of people living with FTD and ALS.”
Dr. Cooper completed his Doctor of Medicine at Cornell University and trained as a neurosurgeon at the State University of New York Health Science Center, NY, before starting his clinical practice. He was awarded an MBA with Distinction from the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. He is a respected expert and collaborator in the area of clinical trials and observational research and has published more than 90 publications and over 200 scientific posters and oral presentations.
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About AviadoBio
At AviadoBio, our mission is to transform the lives of people living with neurodegenerative disorders by developing and delivering transformative gene therapies for diseases including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Company’s technology is based on pioneering research from King’s College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute. AviadoBio’s unique platform combines next-generation gene therapy design with deep neuroscience expertise and a novel neuroanatomy-led approach to drug delivery. AviadoBio’s investors include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Monograph Capital, F-Prime Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), Advent Life Sciences, EQT Lifesciences, and LifeArc.
The company is developing AVB-101 for patients with FTD-GRN. AVB-101 is an investigational AAV gene therapy designed to slow or stop disease progression by delivering a functional copy of the GRN gene throughout the central nervous system to restore progranulin levels.
For more information, please visit www.aviadobio.com and follow us at Twitter @AviadoBio and LinkedIn AviadoBio.
About Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and FTD with GRN mutations (FTD-GRN)
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is of the second most common form of dementia in people under the age of 65 after Alzheimer’s disease. It affects 50,000 to 60,000 patients in the U.S. and over 100,000 in the E.U. Approximately one third of FTD cases are familial and linked to autosomal dominant mutations in three genes including the granulin gene (GRN) and FTD-GRN represents 5-10% of all patients with FTD. Progressive degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain is characteristic of FTD, and is associated with progressive decline of behaviour, decision-making, language and emotion, typically leading to death within 7-10 years of diagnosis. There are currently no approved treatments to stop or slow the progression of FTD or FTD-GRN.
Contact:
For media enquiries:
Farah Speer
SVP, Head of Communications and External Relations
Fspeer@aviadobio.com
+1-312-543-2881
Consilium Strategic Communications
Chris Gardner, Angela Gray, Sukaina Virji
+44 (0) 20 3709 5700
AviadoBio@consilium-comms.com
