Sensorion Announces Appointment of John Furey, Former COO of Spark Therapeutics, as Independent Board Member

MONTPELLIER, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

Sensorion (FR0012596468 – ALSEN) a pioneering clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company which specializes in the development of novel therapies to restore, treat and prevent inner ear diseases such as hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo, announces today that John Furey will join the board of directors as an independent board member. John was most recently Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Spark Therapeutics, a leading global gene therapy developer. This appointment will be effective at the next meeting of the board of directors of the company, in September 2019.

“John is an exceptional addition to our Board of Directors, and his arrival is very timely considering the stage of development of our company. He is bringing over 30 years of drug development and operational experience with a major focus on Gene Therapy over the last years. John led successfully global commercial and technical teams in different renowned pharmaceutical and biotech companies” comments Patrick Langlois, Chairman of Sensorion Board.

“I am absolutely delighted to join Sensorion at this pivotal time. Its unique position in the field of inner ear and its diversified pipeline including next generation gene therapies present a great potential. I look forward to working with the Board and the management team to support the advancement of Sensorion in this new class of innovative medicines to improve patients’ standard of care” states John Furey.

Nawal Ouzren, CEO of Sensorion comments, “with one of the richest pipeline of the inner ear field including two assets in phase 2 in addition to our new gene therapy portfolio, Sensorion is transforming its profile. The experience and leadership of John will be valuable to build bridges with the US investment community and guide our efforts to develop a successful leading global Biotech company”.

John Furey is currently a non-executive director of Adaptimmune, a leader in T-cell therapy. He served most recently as chief operating officer (COO) for Spark Therapeutics, a leading global gene therapy developer. In that role, he was responsible for global commercial operations, medical affairs, technology development and technical operations. He led the successful launch of the first gene therapy in the US (LUXTURNA) and advanced the overall operational maturity of Spark Therapeutics.

Prior to Spark Therapeutics, John was senior vice president and head of global operations for Baxalta, where he directed manufacturing, quality, engineering, and process development. He actively managed a $2.5 billion production budget across Baxalta’s global network and led a first-in-class supply chain organization for rare diseases. He also spent two years in China as general manager of Pfizer’s vaccine business unit following a role with responsibility for global pricing and reimbursement at Pfizer Vaccines. Earlier in his career, he held both commercial and operations positions of increasing scope and responsibility with Pfizer and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

John Furey has an executive M.B.A. from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, a B.S. from Trinity College, Dublin, and a diploma in Environmental Health from the Dublin Institute of Technology