CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aviceda Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing next-generation immunomodulators to alleviate chronic, non-resolving inflammation, is pleased to announce the appointment of biopharmaceutical executive Erin Lavelle as a new member of the Board of Directors.
“We are excited to welcome Ms. Lavelle to the Board,” said Mohamed Genead, MD, Co-founder and CEO of Aviceda. “Ms. Lavelle’s record of building innovative biotechnology companies will be invaluable as we advance our mission to address the unmet needs in geographic atrophy.”
“With Aviceda’s rapid growth and late-stage clinical efforts, we are broadening the board’s strategic and operational experience,” said Nancy Kerr Thomason, transitioning Chair of the Board of Directors and current Board member. “Given her extensive experience in the C-Suite, I expect Ms. Lavelle will provide valuable insights into strengthening Aviceda’s fundamentals and setting the company up for future success.”
Erin Lavelle is an accomplished biopharma executive with over 25 years of strategic and operational leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of ProfoundBio. In that position, Ms. Lavelle led the company’s $1.8 billion acquisition by Genmab and the $112 million oversubscribed Series B financing preceding the acquisition and spearheaded the company’s public company readiness efforts. Before joining ProfoundBio, Ms. Lavelle served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Eliem Therapeutics, where she executed a combined $150 million Series B financing and initial public offering. Prior to Eliem, Ms. Lavelle was the Chief Operating Officer at Alder BioPharmaceuticals, where she led the company’s $2.3 billion acquisition by H. Lundbeck A/S. Prior to Alder, she held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility during 15 years at Amgen and was a healthcare investment banker at Merrill Lynch & Co. She received her BA in Economics from Yale University.
“I am excited to apply my leadership experience at emerging biopharmaceutical companies to Aviceda’s Board during this important phase of the company,” Erin Lavelle said. “I am impressed with the progress and execution of the AVD-104 clinical program and look forward to collaborating with my fellow Board members meeting the needs of patients with geographic atrophy and building upon the Company’s transformational technology.”
Researchers are assessing the safety and efficacy of Aviceda’s lead drug candidate, AVD-104, as a potential treatment for GA secondary to AMD in the Phase 2 SIGLEC trial, which is divided into two parts. In the Phase 2a SIGLEC study, researchers found an excellent safety profile and observed a significant reduction in the rate of GA lesion growth and improved best corrected visual acuity measurements compared with fellow eyes at 3 months. More information on Phase 2a of SIGLEC can be found HERE. Enrollment in the Phase 2b portion of SIGLEC, which will assess two different doses of AVD-104 versus an active comparator, is approaching completion. Read more about the SIGLEC Phase 2b HERE.
About Aviceda Therapeutics and AVD-104
Aviceda is a clinical-stage biotechnology company located in Cambridge, MA, with a proprietary HALOS™ nanotechnology platform and a clinical stage ophthalmic candidate, AVD-104, for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AVD-104 is a promising intravitreal glycan-coated nanoparticle with a dual mechanism of action that modulates critical inflammatory cellular and complement pathways through 1) direct deactivation of inflammatory microglia/macrophages’ phagocytic activity and repolarization of these activated microglia/macrophages to their healing state and 2) inhibition of complement cascade amplification. AVD-104 is under investigation in the Phase 2 SIGLEC study as a treatment for GA secondary to AMD. SIGLEC is divided into 2 parts. In the Phase 2a SIGLEC study, which was a multi-center, open-label safety and dose-escalation trial, 30 patients received a single intravitreal injection of AVD-104 and were followed for 3 months. At the primary endpoint, the drug was determined to be safe, and significant reductions in GA lesion growth rate were observed in study eyes compared with fellow eyes. Gains in best corrected visual acuity from baseline were also observed in study eyes. The Phase 2b SIGLEC study, which will enroll 300 patients across US clinical trial sites, is a double-masked, randomized study that will compare two doses of AVD-104 to an active comparator (avacincaptad pegol). Enrollment in Phase 2b of SIGLEC is complete.
Along with AVD-104, Aviceda has a broad pipeline of products in development in ophthalmology and multiple other therapeutic areas, including immunology, fibrosis, oncology, and neurology.
