Release Details

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — May 5, 2021 — Verve Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease with single-course gene editing medicines, today announced that Sheila Mikhail, J.D., MBA, chief executive officer and co-founder of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio), a subsidiary of Bayer AG, has joined the company’s board of directors.

“Sheila is an accomplished biopharmaceutical veteran with an impressive track record of leading innovative life science companies and world-class clinical development teams, and we are delighted to welcome her to our board,” said Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Verve. “Her leadership and clinical experience will be invaluable at this stage of Verve’s growth as we work to advance VERVE-101 into clinical development and advance our earlier programs with a goal of transforming the treatment of cardiovascular disease and impacting as many people as possible.”

“Verve has made remarkable progress across their pipeline in the past year, and the science behind their gene editing approach holds great promise in changing the way cardiovascular disease is treated,” said Ms. Mikhail. “The potential to address the leading cause of death worldwide with such a novel approach is incredibly exciting, and I am thrilled to work alongside a passionate board of directors and management team united by this vision.”

Ms. Mikhail has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience and currently serves as chief executive officer and co-founder of AskBio, a company she started in 2001. Prior to her current role, she served as chief executive officer and co-founder of Bamboo Therapeutics, where, under her direction, the company raised $50 million, advanced a therapeutic for giant axonal neuropathy, a rare genetic disorder, into the clinic, completed preclinical studies for a Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutic, and built a GMP manufacturing facility. Bamboo was acquired by Pfizer in August 2016. Prior to that, she was part of the management team at Chatham Therapeutics, which was acquired by Baxter International in 2014. Before joining Chatham Therapeutics, Ms. Mikhail practiced law for more than 15 years, having starter her career at Ropes & Gray LLP and then founding Life Sciences Law, which serviced numerous pharmaceutical and biotech clients. She holds a J.D. from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

About Verve Therapeutics

Verve Therapeutics is a genetic medicines company pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease, transforming treatment from chronic management to single-course gene editing medicines. The company’s initial two programs target PCSK9 and ANGPTL3, genes that have been extensively validated as targets for lowering blood lipids such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a root cause of cardiovascular disease. Verve’s lead product candidate, VERVE-101, is designed to turn off the PCSK9 gene in the liver in order to disrupt blood PCSK9 protein production and thereby reduce blood LDL-C levels, with the goal of reducing a patient’s risk for cardiovascular disease. VERVE-101, currently in IND-enabling studies, is being developed initially for the treatment of patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a potentially fatal genetic heart disease. For more information, please visit www.VerveTx.com.

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THRUST Strategic Communications
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