Editas Medicine Strengthens Executive Leadership Team with Appointment of Linda C. Burkly, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer
July 24 2023 - 7:00AM
Editas Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDIT), a clinical-stage genome
editing company, today announced the appointment of Linda C.
Burkly, Ph.D., as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief
Scientific Officer. Dr. Burkly will lead Editas’ drug discovery
team and activities related to Editas Medicine’s pipeline of
experimental medicines across all therapeutic areas and
indications.
“Earlier this year, we shared our vision to be a leader in
programable in vivo gene editing, and I couldn’t be happier that
Linda is joining Editas to help make this vision a reality. Linda
has an outstanding track record of inventing or contributing to the
foundations of multiple approved medicines and late-stage clinical
candidates. Specifically, during her career, she has invented or
contributed to two approved medicines and one late-stage asset, and
she has initiated or advanced projects along the pipeline,
delivering multiple other candidates to development,” said Gilmore
O’Neill, M.B., M.M.Sc., President and Chief Executive Officer,
Editas Medicine. “Linda’s deep scientific knowledge and her
translational abilities make her an ideal leader for our drug
discovery team and partner to our clinical organization, enabling
us to strategically develop and advance our pipeline to the
clinic.”
“With our new strategy and target selection criteria, we have a
distinctive opportunity to build the Editas pipeline with a focus
on gene editing medicines that will substantially differentiate
from the current standard of care for serious diseases and ensure
our targets maximize the probability of technical, regulatory, and
commercial success. I am eager to lead the incredible team of
scientists at Editas to reach this goal together for patients and
all of our stakeholders,” said Linda C. Burkly, Ph.D., Executive
Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Editas Medicine.
Dr. Burkly brings to Editas more than 35 years of experience in
biotechnology as a research leader spanning the breadth of the drug
discovery and development value chain. Her experience encompasses
therapeutic areas of immunological, neurological, and rare genetic
disorders. Linda also has a track record of contributing to the
foundations of approved medicines and late-stage clinical
candidates including Trogarzo®, Tysabri®, and Dapirolizumab (Phase
3), her role ranging across inventing therapeutic compositions,
discovering novel pathway biology and uses of therapeutic
compositions, co-authoring INDs, and leading project teams.
Prior to joining Editas, Dr. Burkly held positions of increasing
responsibility over a 37-year tenure at Biogen, most recently
leading neuroscience-focused research teams as Vice President and
Senior Distinguished Investigator from 2014 to 2022. At Biogen, Dr.
Burkly invented a novel anti-CD4 mAb that was developed into
Trogarzo®, discovered novel VLA-4/VCAM biology and uses of VLA-4
blockers including for Crohn’s disease, an indication of Tysabri®,
and was Biogen lead on a partnered collaboration with UCB and
therein an inventor of Dapirolizumab.
Dr. Burkly holds a Ph.D. from Tufts University Graduate School
of Biomedical Sciences, Boston, MA, and a B.S. from Fairfield
University. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the
laboratory of Richard A. Flavell, Biogen Research Corp.
About Editas MedicineAs a
clinical-stage genome editing company, Editas Medicine is focused
on translating the power and potential of the CRISPR/Cas12a and
Cas9 genome editing systems into a robust pipeline of treatments
for people living with serious diseases around the world. Editas
Medicine aims to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize
transformative, durable, precision genomic medicines for a broad
class of diseases. Editas Medicine is the exclusive licensee of
Broad Institute’s Cas12a patent estate and Broad Institute and
Harvard University’s Cas9 patent estates for human medicines. For
the latest information and scientific presentations, please visit
www.editasmedicine.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release
contains forward-looking statements and information within the
meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict,"
"project," "target," "should," "would," and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. The
Company may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or
expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from
the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these
forward-looking statements as a result of various important
factors, including: uncertainties inherent in the initiation and
completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials, and clinical
development of the Company’s product candidates; availability and
timing of results from preclinical studies and clinical trials;
whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of
the final results of the trial or the results of future trials;
expectations for regulatory approvals to conduct trials or to
market products and availability of funding sufficient for the
Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and
capital expenditure requirements. These and other risks are
described in greater detail under the caption “Risk Factors”
included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K,
which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
as updated by the Company’s subsequent filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other filings
that the Company may make with the Securities and Exchange
Commission in the future. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof,
and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, whether because of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Media and Investor Contact:Cristi Barnett(617)
401-0113cristi.barnett@editasmed.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d78920d-eae7-40e6-9abc-b0cff2a395a3
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