SmartPharm Therapeutics Appoints Fred Driscoll to Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartPharm Therapeutics, a preclinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing next-generation, non-viral gene therapies for the treatment of rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Fred Driscoll to its Board of Directors.  Mr. Driscoll brings to SmartPharm's Board over 40 years of finance and corporate strategy experience in the biotechnology industry.

"Fred has deep experience in the biotechnology business, including a long history of success in advancing high-value programs, building teams, and forming strategic alliances," said Steve Gorlin, Chairman of the Board for SmartPharm.  "We believe his expertise and contributions will prove invaluable as we work to advance our ongoing development programs."

Mr. Driscoll commented, "SmartPharm is an exciting, non-viral gene therapy company, with an innovative and proprietary platform technology that has broad potential applicability, initially in the area of enzyme replacement therapy for rare disease, and then later in other areas such as tissue restoration and cancer biologics.  We have a terrific team of highly collaborative, motivated professionals and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help in further building upon their novel pipeline of non-viral gene-encoded protein therapies."

Prior to his retirement in 2017, Mr. Driscoll served as Chief Financial Officer at Flexion Therapeutics where he spearheaded a successful IPO in 2014 and during his tenure raised over $600 million toward the ultimate FDA approval of Zilretta®.  From 2009 to 2013 he served as Chief Financial Officer at Novavax, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company.  Prior to Novavax, Mr. Driscoll served as Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2008, and subsequently Chief Executive Officer from 2008 to 2009, at Genelabs Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline; and Chief Executive Officer at OXiGENE, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2000 to 2006.  He began his biotechnology career serving as Chief Financial Officer at Instrumentation Laboratory, an in vitro diagnostics company.  Mr. Driscoll has served as Chairman of the Board at OXiGENE and as a member of the audit committee for Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc., which was sold to Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in 2016.  He currently sits on the boards of Cellectar Biosciences, Cue Biopharma, MEI Pharma and NantKwest, all publicly traded companies where he serves on the audit committees of each.  Mr. Driscoll earned a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance from Bentley University.

About SmartPharm Therapeutics

SmartPharm Therapeutics Inc. is a privately-held, development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing next-generation, non-viral gene therapies for the treatment of serious or rare diseases with the vision of "Biologics from Within." The Company is currently developing a novel pipeline of non-viral, gene-encoded proteins for the treatment of conditions that require enzyme replacement therapy and tissue restoration. SmartPharm commenced operations in 2018 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA, USA. For more information, please visit www.smartpharmtx.com.

SOURCE SmartPharm Therapeutics