Verge Genomics Adds Independent Director Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verge Genomics, a biotech company that has created an industry leading all-in-human, artificial-intelligence-powered drug discovery and development platform focused on therapies for serious genetic diseases, announced today that Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer at Gritstone bio, has been appointed as an Independent Director to its Board of Directors. Well versed in shepherding companies from discovery through preclinical and clinical development, Dr. Allen brings the skills and perspective necessary to help the company drive growth.

“We’re pleased to have Andrew with his extensive track record of success join our Board of Directors,” said Alice Zhang, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Verge Genomics. “As we move towards the clinic and to our ultimate goal of bringing AI-discovered medicines to patients, Andrew’s expertise in both drug discovery and development will be highly beneficial.”

A co-founder of Gritstone bio, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next generation cancer and infectious disease immunotherapies using machine learning, Dr. Allen has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Prior to Gritstone, Dr. Allen co-founded Clovis Oncology, Inc., or Clovis, and served as its Executive Vice President of Clinical and Preclinical Development and Chief Medical Officer. Previously, Dr. Allen was Chief Medical officer at Pharmion Corporation, served in clinical development leadership roles at Chiron Corporation and Abbott Laboratories, and worked at McKinsey & Company. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of TCR2 Therapeutics, Inc., Epizyme, Inc. and Sierra Oncology, Inc. Dr. Allen qualified in medicine at Oxford University and received a Ph.D. in immunology from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London.

“I am pleased to be joining Verge’s board at a pivotal time in the company’s trajectory,” said Dr. Allen. “Verge is focusing on devastating neurological diseases, including ALS, where patients and their families are desperately waiting for a medical breakthrough that can help them. I look forward to working with the Verge team on advancing drug targets discovered through their all-in-human AI platform so we can get them to people with genetic diseases who need them. The use of translational biomarkers, and careful patient selection, to enable swift and informative early clinical trials is common in cancer therapy, and many of these approaches can be applied to the equally serious diseases that Verge aims to treat.”

About Verge Genomics

Verge is focused on developing therapeutics for serious genetic diseases using human genomics and machine learning. Verge has created a proprietary all-in-human platform, featuring one of the field’s largest and most comprehensive databases of neurodegenerative patient genomic data. The company is led by experienced computational biologists and drug developers who are successfully advancing therapeutic programs in ALS and Parkinson’s disease toward the clinic. For additional information, please visit www.vergegenomics.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.