NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT) (“Rocket”), a clinical-stage company advancing an integrated and sustainable pipeline of genetic therapies for rare disorders, today announces the appointment of Elisabeth Bjӧrk, M.D., Ph.D. to its Board of Directors.
“I am honored that Elisabeth will be joining Rocket’s Board of Directors,” said Gaurav Shah, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and President at Rocket. “Elisabeth’s appointment coincides with a period of accelerated clinical trial progress at Rocket. The depth of her experience in complex life-threatening disorders and her drug development expertise—from discovery through launch—comes at a perfect time in Rocket’s journey. We are particularly excited as her presence will augment our existing Board of Directors’ world-class research and financial expertise. Collectively, the management team could not hope for a better group of advisors and stewards for Rocket Pharma.”
Dr. Bjӧrk is the Senior Vice President, Head of Late-stage Development, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM), BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca leading the global development of medicines within this area. Throughout her career at AstraZeneca, she has gained broad drug development experience covering clinical development phase I-IV, large outcomes programs, major global filings and health authority interactions (FDA, EMA, Japan) and commercial strategy/implementation. Dr Bjӧrk is an endocrinologist by training and an associate professor of medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden. She is also a board member of Chalmers University of Technology, Chalmers Ventures AB, Bjӧrks Matematik o Mera AB and rfidcompare europe AB.
“I am delighted to join Rocket’s Board of Directors,” said Dr. Bjӧrk. “With strong leaders in place, Rocket is relentlessly focused on serving patients with devastating and rare diseases. Their dedicated and talented team, coupled with compelling AAV and Lentiviral platforms, creates a bright future for Rocket, and strong potential to develop and deliver life-transforming therapies for patients who need them.”
About Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT) (“Rocket”) is advancing an integrated and sustainable pipeline of genetic therapies that correct the root cause of complex and rare disorders. The company’s platform-agnostic approach enables it to design the best therapy for each indication, creating potentially transformative options for patients afflicted with rare genetic diseases. Rocket's clinical programs using lentiviral vector (LVV)-based gene therapy are for the treatment of Fanconi Anemia (FA), a difficult to treat genetic disease that leads to bone marrow failure and potentially cancer, Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), a severe pediatric genetic disorder that causes recurrent and life-threatening infections which are frequently fatal, and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD) a rare, monogenic red blood cell disorder resulting in increased red cell destruction and mild to life-threatening anemia. Rocket’s first clinical program using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy is for Danon disease, a devastating, pediatric heart failure condition. Rocket’s pre-clinical pipeline program is for Infantile Malignant Osteopetrosis (IMO), a bone marrow-derived disorder. For more information about Rocket, please visit www.rocketpharma.com.
Rocket Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release concerning Rocket's future expectations, plans and prospects, including without limitation, Rocket's expectations regarding its guidance for 2020 in light of COVID-19, the safety, effectiveness and timing of product candidates that Rocket may develop, to treat Fanconi Anemia (FA), Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD), Infantile Malignant Osteopetrosis (IMO) and Danon Disease, and the safety, effectiveness and timing of related pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, may constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions. You should not place reliance on these forward-looking statements, which often include words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "will give," "estimate," "seek," "will," "may," "suggest" or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. Although Rocket believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Rocket cannot guarantee such outcomes. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, without limitation, Rocket's ability to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on its business operations and take steps to ensure the safety of patients, families and employees, the interest from patients and families for participation in each of Rocket’s ongoing trials, our expectations regarding when clinical trial sites will resume normal business operations, our expectations regarding the delays and impact of COVID-19 on clinical sites, patient enrollment, trial timelines and data readouts, our expectations regarding our drug supply for our ongoing and anticipated trials, actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials of its product candidates, Rocket's dependence on third parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of product candidates, the outcome of litigation, and unexpected expenditures, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Rocket's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed March 6, 2020 with the SEC. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All such statements speak only as of the date made, and Rocket undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.