CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verve Therapeutics, a next-generation cardiovascular company developing therapies that safely edit the adult human genome to permanently reduce a person’s risk of coronary artery disease, today announced the appointment of physician and scientist Andrew Bellinger, M.D., Ph.D., as the company’s chief scientific officer. Dr. Bellinger joins Verve from Lyndra Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing ultra-long-acting oral dosage forms to replace daily pills, where he was co-founder and chief scientific officer. Dr. Bellinger’s wide-ranging scientific expertise includes biomedical engineering and drug delivery, computational modeling, pharmacology, clinical strategy and translational medicine.
“Andrew’s multidisciplinary background, his experience translating novel scientific innovations into viable clinical candidates, and his deep passion for improving cardiovascular care will be incredibly valuable assets for Verve,” said Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Verve. “We look forward to an exciting period of growth for our research efforts under Andrew’s leadership as we continue to expand our scientific team and to progress our preclinical development programs.”
Dr. Bellinger is a general cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine and internal medicine. Prior to joining Verve, he co-founded and served as chief scientific officer of Lyndra Therapeutics, where he helped to build the company’s research team and was involved in the company’s key partnerships with Gilead and Allergan. In the four years since Lyndra’s founding, the company has advanced several programs into the clinic. Dr. Bellinger will continue to serve as an advisor to Lyndra. Prior to Lyndra, Dr. Bellinger served as chief scientific officer of Cocoon Biotech, leading the development of the company’s drug delivery platform based on silk fibroin. Dr. Bellinger completed his clinical training in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and his clinical training in cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He completed his postdoctoral research training in drug delivery with Dr. Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bellinger holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, an M.S. in mathematics from New York University, and an A.B. in physics from Princeton University.
“In my cardiology practice, I’ve seen firsthand the limitations of our present-day approach to cardiovascular disease. With Verve, we have a profound opportunity to change the dynamic of healthcare delivery for people living with or at risk for coronary artery disease — conferring lifelong resistance with a gene-editing treatment given once in life,” said Dr. Bellinger, chief scientific officer of Verve. “I feel privileged to contribute my scientific knowledge to solve such an urgent medical problem, and I’m delighted to join Verve’s unparalleled team of experts in that effort.”
About Verve Therapeutics
Verve Therapeutics is a biotechnology company created with a singular focus: to protect the world from heart disease. Verve is developing therapies to safely edit the genome of adults and confer lifelong protection from coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease and the leading cause of death worldwide. Founded by world-leading experts in cardiovascular medicine, human genetics and gene editing, Verve is backed by a top-tier syndicate of investors, including GV (formerly Google Ventures), ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Biomatics Capital. Verve is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.VerveTx.com.
