Intellia Therapeutics Names John Leonard, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
December 18 2017 - 7:30AM
Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA), a leading genome
editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using
CRISPR/Cas9 technology, has named John Leonard, M.D., President and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective January 1, 2018. Dr.
Leonard succeeds Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., Intellia’s founding
President and CEO, who is returning to the venture capital
industry. In recognition of the company’s growth and expanding
pipeline, the Board of Directors and Dr. Bermingham agreed that Dr.
Leonard should lead the Company as it progresses toward clinical
development, given his experience in successfully developing
biopharmaceutical products and leading large scientific
organizations.
Dr. Leonard joined Intellia in 2014 as the Company was being
formed. He initially served as Intellia’s Chief Medical Officer and
as a member of its Board of Directors, and together with Dr.
Bermingham, set the strategic direction of the Company. In 2016,
Dr. Leonard became Intellia’s Executive Vice President of Research
& Development (R&D). Prior to Intellia, Dr. Leonard
was Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research
and Development at AbbVie, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical
company, which was spun off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013. At
Abbott, Dr. Leonard served as Senior Vice President of Global
Pharmaceutical Research & Development from 2008 to 2012.
His combined tenure at Abbott and AbbVie spanned 22 years from
1992, until his retirement from AbbVie in 2013. Dr. Leonard was
responsible for the development of the groundbreaking HIV protease
inhibitors Norvir® and Kaletra®, which led to new treatment
paradigms for HIV/AIDS.
He also led AbbVie’s HCV programs, laid the foundation for its
Oncology effort and guided the development of HUMIRA®, the
all-time, top-selling pharmaceutical product worldwide.
“After nearly four years of building Intellia and this
exceptional team, the Company is now poised to begin development of
CRISPR/Cas9-based therapies,” says Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D. “At
this stage, Intellia requires a CEO with a track record of
successful drug development. John was the first to join me in
starting Intellia, and was an ideal partner because of his
unmatched R&D expertise and biopharmaceutical leadership
experience. As I return to my roots in biotech venture capital, I
am confident that Intellia, the science and our employees are in
great hands.”
“With more than a 30-year career in biopharmaceutical R&D,
John is well recognized as a premier R&D leader, having
developed many breakthrough medicines that turned into
life-improving therapies for patients. As Intellia progresses
towards clinical development, we are fortunate that he will lead
the company,” says Intellia’s Chairman Perry Karsen. “We thank
Nessan for his passion and leadership in taking Intellia from an
idea through preclinical science, initial public offering and the
path to the clinic. As Intellia’s founder, Nessan had great vision
for what was possible with the CRISPR/Cas9 technology and its
application in human therapeutics.”
“Intellia has made significant progress in advancing the
CRISPR/Cas9 technology and in applying it in our pre-clinical
programs, as well as in those of our partners Novartis and
Regeneron,” says John Leonard, M.D. “As we enter the next phase,
our ambition and business strategy remains the same. We will build
on Nessan’s vision, and advance our mission of developing curative
genome editing treatments that can positively transform the lives
of people living with severe and life-threatening diseases.”
About Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics is a leading genome editing company
focused on the development of proprietary curative therapeutics
using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Intellia believes the CRISPR/Cas9
technology has the potential to transform medicine by permanently
editing disease-associated genes in the human body with a single
treatment course. Our combination of deep scientific, technical and
clinical development experience, along with our leading
intellectual property portfolio, puts us in a unique position to
unlock broad therapeutic applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology
and create a new class of therapeutic products. Learn more about
Intellia Therapeutics and CRISPR/Cas9 at intelliatx.com; Follow us
on Twitter @intelliatweets.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statement in this press release include, but
are not limited to, express or implied statements regarding the
successful development of CRISPR/Cas9-based therapies to treat
diseases; the translation of the results from animal models to
human therapies; and the Company’s or its collaborator’s ability
and intention to develop, seek regulatory approval for, and
commercialize therapies to treat disease using CRISPR/Cas9. Any
forward-looking statements in this press release are uncertain,
based on management's current expectations of future events,
occurrences, actions and plans, and subject to various 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. The Company may not actually execute or
obtain the results from the plans, goals, efforts or opportunities
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, goals,
efforts or opportunities disclosed in these forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors including:
uncertainties inherent in the implementation and execution of
preclinical studies and clinical trials, and preclinical and
clinical development of the Company’s or its collaborator’s
products candidates; availability and timing of results from
preclinical studies and clinical trials; whether interim results
from a preclinical trial will be predictive of the final results of
the preclinical or clinical trials or the results of future trials;
expectations and requirements for regulatory approvals to conduct
trials or to market products; and availability of funding
sufficient for the Company’s or its collaborator’s foreseeable and
unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure
requirements. For a discussion of 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 our most
recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, as well as discussions of potential risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors in our other filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
All information and forward-looking statements in this press
release are as of the date of the release, and Intellia
Therapeutics undertakes no duty to update this information, whether
because of new information, future events or otherwise, unless
required by law.
Intellia Contacts:
Media:Jennifer Mound SmoterSenior Vice President
External Affairs & Communications +1
857-706-1071jenn.smoter@intelliatx.com |
Investors:Lindsey TrickettVice PresidentInvestor
Relations+ 1 857-285-6211lindsey.trickett@intelliatx.com |
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