enGene adds three board members and promotes executives for commercialization

enGene Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ENGN) announced the appointment of three new board members and the promotion of three executives as the company prepares for regulatory filings and commercialization of its lead therapy detalimogene.

The new board members are Philip Astley-Sparke, co-founder and executive chairman of Replimune Group Inc.; William Grossman, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and head of research and development at Oncko Inc.; and Michael Heffernan, R.Ph., founder and former CEO of Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc. Jasper Bos stepped down from the board in connection with these appointments.

The company promoted Matthew Boyd to chief regulatory officer from senior vice president of regulatory affairs, Jill Buck to chief development officer from senior vice president of clinical development operations, and Katherine Chan, M.D., M.P.H., to executive director, urology clinical lead.

Astley-Sparke previously served as president and CEO of BioVex Inc., which was acquired by Amgen in 2011, and later as president of uniQure N.V. Grossman held senior roles at Gilead Sciences, Arcus Biosciences, and Genentech/Roche, where he led development of cancer immunotherapy combinations. Heffernan led Collegium Pharmaceutical through commercialization and strategic transactions until 2018.

Boyd has over 25 years of regulatory experience and led submission of numerous drug applications, including the recent approval of Bylvay for rare pediatric liver disease while at Albireo Pharma. Buck has more than 25 years of global drug development experience across multiple therapeutic areas. Chan brings 11 years of academic urology experience as a board-certified urologist and NIH-funded principal investigator.

The Boston and Montreal-based company is developing detalimogene, a non-viral gene-based immunotherapy for high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The therapy has received Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy and Fast Track designations from the FDA.

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