Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRDN) (the “company” or “Viridian”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing potential best-in-class medicines for serious and rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Jennifer Tousignant to the role of Chief Legal Officer.
“I am very pleased to welcome Jennifer to Viridian to lead our legal team and join Viridian’s executive team ahead of an exciting set of milestones this year across our thyroid eye disease and anti-neonatal Fc receptor portfolios,” said Steve Mahoney, Viridian President and Chief Executive Officer. “With Jennifer’s deep expertise and long history in public biotech companies advising on a broad set of business and legal matters, she will be a great complement and asset to the team as we execute on our corporate priorities.”
Ms. Tousignant joins Viridian most recently from Sana Biotechnology where she was Senior Vice President of Legal and led the legal team responsible for research and development, regulatory, quality, intellectual property, business development, corporate communications and investor relations, and litigation. She joined Sana from Xilio Therapeutics where she was the Head of Legal and responsible for all legal and compliance matters. Prior to Xilio, Jennifer was Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at TESARO, Inc., where she built and led the intellectual property function and was a key member of the global launch teams for several products. Early in her career, she worked at Genzyme Corporation in roles of increasing responsibility in research and in legal. She received her J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law, magna cum laude, and her B.A. in Chemistry with Honors from the University of Virginia.
“I am thrilled to join Viridian during this transformational time,” said Ms. Tousignant. “I look forward to working closely with the team to execute and deliver on a portfolio of differentiated and potentially best-in-class medicines for patients. This is an incredibly exciting time for Viridian, and I am excited to contribute.”
Notice of Issuance of Inducement Grants
Viridian also announced that the company’s Board of Directors approved the grant of non-qualified stock options to Ms. Tousignant to purchase up to 290,000 shares of the company’s common stock (the “Inducement Grant”) on February 12, 2024 (the “Grant Date”). The Inducement Grant has been granted outside of the company’s Amended and Restated 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) but remains subject to the terms and conditions of such Plan. The Inducement Grant was granted as an inducement material to Ms. Tousignant entering into employment with Viridian in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
The Inducement Grant has an exercise price per share that is equal to the closing price of Viridian’s common stock on the Grant Date. The Inducement Grant will vest over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the Ms. Tousignant’s start date, and thereafter the remainder of the shares vest in 36 equal monthly installments, subject to Ms. Tousignant’s continued employment with Viridian through the applicable vesting dates.
About Viridian Therapeutics
Viridian is a biopharmaceutical company focused on engineering and developing potential best-in-class medicines for patients with serious and rare diseases. Viridian’s expertise in antibody discovery and engineering enables it to develop differentiated therapeutic candidates for previously validated drug targets in commercially established disease areas.
Viridian is advancing multiple candidates in the clinic for the treatment of patients with thyroid eye disease (TED). The company is conducting two global Phase 3 clinical trials (THRIVE and THRIVE-2) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VRDN-001 in patients with active and chronic TED. Viridian’s goal is to advance VRDN-001 as a best-in-class IV therapy followed by VRDN-003 as a first- and best-in-class subcutaneous therapy for the treatment of TED.
In addition to its TED portfolio, Viridian is advancing a novel portfolio of neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) inhibitors, VRDN-006 and VRDN-008, which has the potential to be developed in multiple autoimmune diseases.
Viridian is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.viridiantherapeutics.com. Follow Viridian on LinkedIn and X.
Source: Viridian Therapeutics, Inc.
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