bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLUE), a clinical-stage company committed to
developing potentially transformative gene therapies for severe genetic
and rare diseases and T cell-based immunotherapies, today announced that
Philip Gregory, D. Phil., is joining the company as its Chief Scientific
Officer and a member of the leadership team.
Dr. Gregory comes to bluebird bio from Sangamo BioSciences Inc., where
he most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice
President, Research. At Sangamo, Dr. Gregory was responsible for setting
the scientific direction of the company, prosecuting the development of
the company’s genome editing platform and overseeing the early discovery
and development of IND candidates.
“Philip brings a wealth of pioneering leadership and expertise in the
field of genome editing and gene therapy to bluebird bio during an
exciting point in our company’s growth,” said Nick Leschly, chief
bluebird. “Philip shares our unwavering commitment to deliver therapies
that have the potential to transform the lives of patients. The breadth
and depth of his knowledge and experience will be crucial as we build a
leading gene therapy products company.”
“bluebird bio is uniquely positioned with deep expertise and a broad
platform across lentiviral vectors and genome editing, with numerous
promising therapeutic applications,” said Dr. Gregory. “I am excited to
be part of the team that is building and expanding upon this
foundational work to bring potentially transformative therapies to
patients.”
Dr. Gregory holds a D.Phil. in Biochemistry from Oxford University, and
B.Sc. in Microbiology from Sheffield University.
About bluebird bio, Inc.
With its lentiviral-based gene therapy and gene editing capabilities,
bluebird bio has built an integrated product platform with broad
potential application to severe genetic diseases and T cell-based
immunotherapy. bluebird bio’s clinical programs include Lenti-D™,
currently in a Phase 2/3 study, called the Starbeam Study, for the
treatment of childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, and LentiGlobin®,
currently in three clinical studies: a global Phase 1/2 study, called
the Northstar Study, for the treatment of beta-thalassemia major; a
single-center Phase 1/2 study in France (HGB-205) for the treatment of
beta-thalassemia major or severe sickle cell disease; and a separate
U.S. Phase 1 study for the treatment of sickle cell disease (HGB-206).
bluebird bio also has ongoing preclinical CAR T immuno-oncology
programs, as well as discovery research programs utilizing
megaTALs/homing endonuclease gene editing technologies.
bluebird bio has operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Seattle,
Washington, and Paris, France. For more information, please visit www.bluebirdbio.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including
statements regarding the research, development and advancement of
bluebird bio's product candidates and research programs. Any
forward-looking statements are based on management’s current
expectations of future events and are subject to a number of 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. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited
to, the risk that bluebird bio's research programs will be unsuccessful
and not identify any viable product candidates or will not be safe or
effective in clinical trials, the risk of cessation or delay of any of
the planned clinical studies and/or our development of our product
candidates, the risk of a delay in the enrollment of patients in the
Company’s clinical studies, the risk that our collaboration with Celgene
around anti-BCMA product candidates will not continue or will not be
successful, and the risk that any one or more of our product candidates
will not be successfully developed and commercialized. For a discussion
of other 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 annual report on Form 10-Q, as well as discussions of
potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All
information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and
bluebird bio undertakes no duty to update this information unless
required by law.
Availability of other information about bluebird bio
Investors and others should note that we communicate with our investors
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our investor relations website (http://www.bluebirdbio.com/investor-splash.html),
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