Adverum Biotechnologies Appoints Katherine Bock as Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

July 24, 2018

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADVM), a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in serious rare and ocular diseases, announced today the appointment of Katherine Bock as vice president, investor relations and corporate communications. Ms. Bock will serve as a member of the Adverum leadership team and will report to Leone Patterson, interim president and chief executive officer of Adverum.

“Katherine brings significant experience leading investor relations programs, conducting competitive landscape assessments, and executing value-creating initiatives for life science companies,” said Leone Patterson, interim president and chief executive officer of Adverum Biotechnologies. “She has a comprehensive background in life sciences and a broad set of business skills. I look forward to her contributions to our investor relations program and I am excited to partner with Katherine as our team advances our plans to increase Adverum’s visibility within the gene therapy industry.”

“Adverum is at the forefront of the promising gene therapy space and I am excited to join this diverse team of experienced, driven, and collaborative professionals,” said Katherine Bock, vice president, investor relations and corporate communications at Adverum. “I believe Adverum’s focus on innovative AAV-based therapies to treat people with wAMD and rare disease areas such as A1AT deficiency and HAE offers a unique opportunity to address these unmet needs.  I look forward to working with the team to share our mission as we move forward with our patient-focused initiatives.”

Katherine Bock has over 15 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Before joining Adverum, Ms. Bock led corporate development and investor relations at Nevro, a medical device company focused on improving the quality of life for people living with chronic pain, and also served as chief of staff for the chief executive officer. She helped execute Nevro’s successful initial public offering in 2014, as the first medical device company to price above their range since 2007, and helped lead subsequent financings, including the largest medtech follow-on in over 10 years and a convertible raise. Before Nevro, she worked at Lazard as an associate in the healthcare investment banking group, where she focused on M&A advisory roles and capital market transactions. Previously, Ms. Bock worked at Genentech as a market planning manager associate in the competitive intelligence group, where she was responsible for assessing the competitive landscape for pipeline products.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Bock conducted biotechnology research at Genentech in the small molecule translational oncology group and in Corgentech’s oncology group.

Ms. Bock earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics at San Francisco State University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also active in the community with the Board of the Northern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as the former Treasurer.

On the date she commenced her employment with Adverum, the Company granted Ms. Bock a stock option to purchase 100,000 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 Ms. Bock’s entering into employment with Adverum. The option has 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 her continued service with Adverum.

About Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.
Adverum is a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in 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
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer
650-665-7222
lpatterson@adverum.com

 

Primary Logo

 

Source: Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.