Yong Dai, Ph.D., Promoted to Chief Technology Officer
Tim Adams Joins Board of Directors; Francois Nader, M.D., Role
Expanded to Non-Executive Chairman
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Prevail Therapeutics Inc. (Prevail), a gene therapy company developing
AAV-based gene therapies for patients with devastating neurodegenerative
diseases, today announced the promotion of Yong Dai, Ph.D., to Chief
Technology Officer. In this role, Dr. Dai will lead the Company’s
process development and analytical development to establish advanced
manufacturing. In addition, the Company has appointed Tim Adams, Chief
Financial Officer of ObsEva, to its Board of Directors as Audit
Committee Chair, and Board member Francois Nader, M.D., will expand his
role as Non-Executive Chairman.
“As Prevail transitions into a clinical-stage company, I am pleased to
announce our key board and leadership appointments, which will help
continue our momentum in advancing our pipeline of disease-modifying
gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases,” said Asa Abeliovich,
M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prevail. “I would
like to congratulate Dr. Yong Dai on his promotion to Chief Technology
Officer, which will be instrumental to expand our manufacturing
capabilities. It is also a great honor to welcome Tim Adams to our Board
of Directors, as well as to expand Dr. Francois Nader’s role to chairman
of our Board.”
Yong Dai, Ph.D., Promoted to Chief Technology Officer
Newly appointed Chief Technology Officer Dr. Yong Dai joined Prevail in
2018 as Senior Vice President of Gene Therapy. He brings to the role
more than 17 years of biotechnology industry experience focused on
bioprocess development, chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC),
good manufacturing practice, process validation, and regulatory
submissions, including extensive work with gene therapy drug
development. Prior to joining Prevail, Dr. Dai was the Senior Director
of Process Development at uniQure, where he was responsible for process
and analytical development and manufacturing sciences for early and
late-stage gene therapy drug development programs. Prior to his time at
uniQure, he served as the Head of Process Development Commercial Support
at Shire Pharmaceuticals and held senior CMC roles at ImmunoGen. Dr. Dai
completed his postdoctoral research at Harvard University, and holds a
Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Chinese Academy of
Sciences. He also holds an M.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology
and a B.S. in biochemistry from the Peking University in China.
Board of Directors Appointments
Mr. Tim Adams, who also joins as Audit Committee Chair, is the Chief
Financial Officer of ObsEva, a biotechnology company focused on women’s
health with two of its three assets in late-stage development. He joined
ObsEva in 2017, prior to its initial public offering, and has led three
public financings for the company, raising more than $225 million. Prior
to ObsEva, Mr. Adams served as the Chief Financial Officer of
Demandware, which was acquired by Salesforce for more than $3 billion.
Before Demandware, he was the Chief Financial Officer of athenahealth,
following his early career as a Certified Public Accountant at
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Adams holds a bachelor’s degree from Murray
State University and an MBA from Boston University.
Following his appointment
as an Independent Director of Prevail’s Board of Directors in May 2018,
Dr. Francois Nader has been appointed to Non-Executive Chairman. Dr.
Nader was President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of
NPS Pharma from 2008 until 2015, when the company was acquired by Shire
for $5.2 billion. During his tenure as its Chief Executive Officer, Dr.
Nader transformed NPS Pharma into a leading global biotechnology company
focused on delivering innovative therapies to patients with rare
diseases. Before NPS Pharma, Dr. Nader was a Venture Partner at Care
Capital. Previously, he served on the North America leadership team of
Aventis and its predecessor companies, holding a number of executive
positions including Senior Vice President of Integrated Healthcare
Markets and North America Medical and Regulatory Affairs. He currently
serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Acceleron Pharma and
Talaris Therapeutics, and as a Board member of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Nader earned his French Doctorate in medicine from St. Joseph
University in Lebanon and his Physician Executive MBA from the
University of Tennessee.
ABOUT PREVAIL THERAPEUTICS
Prevail Therapeutics is a gene therapy company leveraging breakthroughs
in human genetics with the goal of developing and commercializing
disease-modifying AAV-based gene therapies for patients with devastating
neurodegenerative diseases. Prevail was founded by Dr. Abeliovich in
2017, through a collaborative effort with The Silverstein Foundation for
Parkinson’s with GBA and OrbiMed, and is headquartered in New York, NY.
Contacts
Katie Engleman
1AB
katie@1ABmedia.com