BEDFORD, Mass., April 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Homology Medicines, Inc. (Nasdaq: FIXX), a genetic medicines company, announced today that Albert Seymour, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, has been promoted to President of Homology. In addition to his role as CSO, Dr. Seymour will assume broader responsibilities for additional functional areas, including human resources, clinical development and operations, and commercial strategy.
“Albert has fostered a culture of scientific innovation and execution that brought our first gene therapy candidate to the clinic within three years from inception, and this was followed closely by two additional trial initiations, including our first nuclease-free in vivo gene editing program,” said Arthur Tzianabos, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Homology Medicines. “I look forward to our continued work together, and I am confident in Albert’s ability to advance the pipeline while overseeing clinical execution of our three trials, which is a major focus of near-term milestones for Homology. I believe Albert’s added responsibilities will also ensure a seamless collaboration with the new AAV manufacturing company we formed recently with Oxford Biomedica that provides us preferred access to high-quality product.”
Dr. Seymour was one of the first employees of Homology and has served as CSO since joining alongside CEO Dr. Tzianabos in 2016. Dr. Seymour played an integral role in helping build Homology into a fully integrated company with capabilities spanning from discovery to product development and through to commercialization. Importantly, he drove the translation of the Company’s proprietary in vivo gene therapy and nuclease-free gene editing platform from early research and discovery to three clinical development programs for rare diseases. Under his scientific leadership, Dr. Seymour and his team forged a new path forward to assess and confirm on- and off-target gene integration at the molecular level, a critical step for the field as it continues to develop genetic medicines. His vision also led to the expansion of Homology’s technology platform with the recent launch of the GTx-mAb platform, a one-time gene therapy designed to produce and distribute antibodies from the liver, an innovative approach that can be applied to develop therapies for diseases with larger patient populations.
“I joined Homology because I recognized the potential of the AAVHSC technology to provide unique genetic medicine approaches to address significant unmet medical need in the rare disease community, and I am proud of the tremendous accomplishments that our team has achieved towards this goal,” said Dr. Seymour. “As I look to the future, I am thrilled to take on a broader role at Homology that leverages our collective expertise to advance our product candidates and execute on our three clinical trials, ultimately seeking to bring innovative genetic medicines to patients.”
Prior to his time at Homology, Dr. Seymour was the Senior Vice President and Head of Global Research and Nonclinical Development at Shire plc, where he led a team to deliver a sustained flow of rare disease therapeutics from idea to IND and supported the full R&D portfolio in the areas of toxicology, bioanalytics, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Prior to that, Dr. Seymour served as the Vice President and Head of Drug Discovery and Translational Research at Shire, where he doubled the rare disease discovery portfolio in three years. Before Shire, he spent 14 years at Pfizer Inc. leading a team in the application of human genetics and computational biology to discover and develop therapeutics and pharmacogenomics strategies in diabetes, inflammatory diseases and oncology.
About Homology Medicines, Inc.
Homology Medicines, Inc. is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients suffering from rare diseases by addressing the underlying cause of the disease. The Company’s clinical programs include HMI-102, an investigational gene therapy for adults with phenylketonuria (PKU); HMI-103, a gene editing candidate for PKU; and HMI-203, an investigational gene therapy for Hunter syndrome. Additional programs focus on metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and other diseases. Homology’s proprietary platform is designed to utilize its family of 15 human hematopoietic stem cell-derived adeno-associated virus vectors (AAVHSCs) to precisely and efficiently deliver genetic medicines in vivo through a gene therapy or nuclease-free gene editing modality, as well as to deliver one-time gene therapy to produce antibodies throughout the body through the GTx-mAb platform. Homology has a management team with a successful track record of discovering, developing and commercializing therapeutics with a focus on rare diseases. Homology believes its initial clinical data and compelling preclinical data, scientific and product development expertise and broad intellectual property position the Company as a leader in genetic medicines. For more information, visit www.homologymedicines.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations surrounding our collaboration with Oxford Biomedica Solutions LLC; the management transition discussed in this press release; the potential of our gene therapy and gene editing platforms; and our position as a leader in the development of genetic medicines. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and on general economic conditions; we have and expect to continue to incur significant losses; our need for additional funding, which may not be available; failure to identify additional product candidates and develop or commercialize marketable products; the early stage of our development efforts; potential unforeseen events during clinical trials could cause delays or other adverse consequences; risks relating to the regulatory approval process; interim, topline and preliminary data may change as more patient data become available, and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data; our product candidates may cause serious adverse side effects; inability to maintain our collaborations, or the failure of these collaborations; our reliance on third parties, including for the manufacture of materials for our research programs, preclinical and clinical studies; failure to obtain U.S. or international marketing approval; ongoing regulatory obligations; effects of significant competition; unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives; product liability lawsuits; failure to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel; the possibility of system failures or security breaches; risks relating to intellectual property; and significant costs incurred as a result of operating as a public company. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and our other filings with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
Company Contacts:
Theresa McNeely
Chief Communications Officer
and Patient Advocate
tmcneely@homologymedicines.com
781-301-7277
Media Contact:
Cara Mayfield
Vice President, Patient Advocacy
and Corporate Communications
cmayfield@homologymedicines.com
781-691-3510
