MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADVM), a leading gene therapy company advancing novel medicines to address unmet needs in serious rare and ocular diseases, announced today the appointment of Linda Neuman, M.D. as vice president, clinical development. In this newly-created position, Dr. Neuman will report to Athena Countouriotis, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer. Dr. Neuman has 15 years of experience in the biotechnology industry and 10 years of experience in clinical practice.

“Linda has significant drug development experience and has led multiple programs entering the clinic all the way to approval,” said Amber Salzman, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Adverum Biotechnologies. “We are excited to have Linda on board as she brings deep clinical development and medical affairs experience, as well as an understanding of patients through her work as an internist. We look forward to her leadership and execution as we advance our three lead gene therapy programs toward the clinic.”

“I am excited to join this team of professionals driven to advance novel gene therapies to improve treatment options for patients,” said Linda Neuman, M.D., vice president, clinical development of Adverum. “I was impressed by the team’s expertise and energy, and I look forward to taking a leadership role in shaping Adverum’s clinical development strategy as we prepare to advance ADVM-043 into clinical development and additional compounds in the future.”

Linda Neuman, M.D., M.B.A., has 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry and in clinical practice treating patients. Most recently, Dr. Neuman served as vice president, clinical development at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she led the filing of an Investigational New Drug application and initiated a Phase 1b/2 clinical study in patients. Before Sunesis, she worked with Puma Biotechnology, Inc. as senior medical director, oncology. Previously, Dr. Neuman was medical director of oncology at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where she served as clinical lead on the global product development team. Earlier in her career, Dr. Neuman held roles of increasing responsibility at Covidien Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Schering-Plough. She began her career in clinical practice as an internist. Dr. Neuman earned an M.D. and B.S. in biology from Southern Illinois University. Dr. Neuman also received an M.B.A from Indiana Wesleyan University.

On the date she commenced her employment, Adverum granted Dr. Neuman a stock option to purchase 92,000 shares of Adverum’s common stock pursuant to the inducement grant exception under NASDAQ Rule 5635(c)(4), as an inducement that is material to Dr. Neuman’ entering into employment with Adverum. The option will have a per share exercise price equal to the closing sales price of Adverum’s common stock on NASDAQ on the grant date, and will vest over four years, subject to Dr. Neuman’s continued service with Adverum. Pursuant to the terms of Dr. Newman’s employment with Adverum, Dr. Newman will also be granted a restricted stock unit award to acquire 64,000 shares of Adverum’s common stock which will vest over four yeaers, subject to Dr. Neuman’s continued service with Adverum.

About Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.
Adverum is a gene therapy company advancing novel medicines that may offer life-changing benefits to patients living with serious rare and ocular diseases. Adverum has a robust pipeline that includes product candidates designed to treat rare diseases alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency and hereditary angioedema (HAE) as well as wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). Leveraging a next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based directed evolution platform, Adverum generates product candidates designed to provide durable efficacy by inducing sustained expression of a therapeutic protein. Adverum has collaboration agreements with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to research, develop, and commercialize gene therapy products for ophthalmic diseases and Editas Medicine to explore the delivery of genome editing medicines for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases. Adverum’s core capabilities include clinical development and in-house manufacturing expertise, specifically in process development and assay development. For more information please visit www.adverum.com.

Adverum Contact:
Leone Patterson
Chief Financial Officer
650-665-7222
lpatterson@adverum.com

Source: Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.