Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADVM), a gene therapy company committed to discovering and developing novel medicines for patients suffering from diseases with few or burdensome treatment options, today announced that former Chief Executive Officer Paul B. Cleveland has been appointed Executive Chairman of the Board and that Amber Salzman, Ph.D., formerly President and Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as CEO of Adverum for the past ten months. We have accomplished a number of important strategic goals during that period, including the closing of the transaction with Annapurna, the announcement of our new name and ticker symbol, multiple additions to both our management team and Board of Directors, and our decision to develop a new wet AMD product candidate. I believe that the time has come for me to retire from a full-time CEO role, and I believe that with Amber as CEO the company will flourish, benefitting both patients and shareholders.”
“I am excited to be able to become the Chief Executive Officer of Adverum,” said Dr. Salzman. “We have laid the groundwork needed to drive several very promising gene therapy programs forward. I want to thank Paul for his leadership and support and I look forward to continuing to work with him to lead the company through its next chapter.”
Dr. Salzman joined Adverum as President and Chief Operating Officer in 2016 after the combination of Annapurna Therapeutics with Avalanche Biotechnologies. She served as co-founder, president and Chief Executive Officer of Annapurna Therapeutics prior to the combination. Prior to Annapurna, Amber served in leadership roles in large pharmaceutical companies, small pharmaceutical companies, and in the rare disease community including her role as chief executive officer of Cardiokine Inc. prior to its acquisition by Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, she served as a member of the GlaxoSmtihKline plc’s R&D executive team where she planned and managed drug-development projects and clinical trials comprising more than 30,000 patients worldwide. She has led initiatives to accelerate drug development and moderate costs, and established a Development Support Center in India. She is the president of the Stop ALD Foundation, a patient-advocacy group driving forward improvements in treatments for patients with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), and she played a key role in bringing about the a ALD lentiviral gene therapy treatment. Dr. Salzman received her B.A. from Temple University and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College.
About Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.
Adverum is a gene therapy company committed to discovering and developing novel medicines that can offer life-changing benefits to patients living with rare diseases or diseases of the eye who currently have limited or burdensome treatment options. Adverum has a robust pipeline that includes product candidates to treat wet AMD, A1AT deficiency, and hereditary angioedema, among other diseases. We are leveraging our next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based directed evolution platform to generate product candidates designed to provide durable efficacy by inducing sustained expression of a therapeutic protein. Our focus on the patient is supported by clinical development expertise and core capabilities in vector optimization, process development, manufacturing, and assay development. For more information please visit www.adverumbio.com.
