Arbutus and Roivant Launch Genevant Sciences with Industry-Leading Platform to Develop Broad Range of RNA Therapeutics for Genetic Diseases

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Apr 11, 2018
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  • Genevant aims to advance 5-10 product candidates into the clinic by 2020 across RNAi, mRNA, and gene editing modalities using Arbutus’ LNP and ligand conjugate platforms
  • Genevant will be led by Executive Chairman Paris Panayiotopoulos, former CEO of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals through its 2017 acquisition by Takeda, who is assembling a team of RNA experts
  • Dr. Bo Rode Hansen, Global Head of RNA Therapeutics at Roche, will be joining Genevant as President, Chief Scientific Officer, and Head of R&D; Dr. Peter Lutwyche, who led the development of the Arbutus delivery platforms, will join as Chief Technology Officer; Dr. Konstantin Linnik, former Lead Patent Counsel for Oligonucleotide Therapeutics at Pfizer, will join as General Counsel; Dr. James Heyes, key inventor on Arbutus LNP and ligand conjugate patents, will join as SVP; additionally, a scientific team with decades of RNA development and delivery experience will be joining Genevant