BOSTON, May 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Verve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease with single-course gene editing medicines, today announced that Troy Lister, Ph.D., currently serving as Verve’s senior vice president, research and early development, has been appointed chief scientific officer (CSO), effective June 21, 2024. Andrew Bellinger, M.D., Ph.D., who has served as CSO since 2019, will step down from this role and serve in an advisory capacity.
“Over the past two years, Troy has been a respected colleague and wonderful leader at Verve, preceded by a longstanding career in research and development and program and portfolio management. In his new role as chief scientific officer, Troy will lead our research efforts as we further advance our pipeline programs, all of which address a robust set of validated cardiovascular targets in areas of high unmet need,” said Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Verve Therapeutics. “Troy inherits a strong research function from Andrew. During his five years at Verve, Andrew, serving as Chief Scientific Officer and for a time as Chief Medical Officer, developed Verve’s pipeline, progressed our preclinical and clinical development programs, and built a phenomenal scientific team. On behalf of the entire team, I would like to thank Andrew for all of his contributions to Verve and to the cardiovascular disease patients we seek to serve.”
Dr. Lister brings more than 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with extensive work in drug discovery, research, and development and program and portfolio leadership. Prior to joining Verve, he served as senior vice president of research and development at Spero Therapeutics, where he helped build the research and development organization and led multiple programs into first-in-human studies and through early clinical development. Dr. Lister has also held scientific and leadership roles at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and AstraZeneca. He holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Flinders University, Australia. He completed post-doctoral studies in bioactive natural product total synthesis at The Scripps Research Institute with Professor K.C. Nicolaou.
About Verve Therapeutics
Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERV) is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease, potentially transforming treatment from chronic management to single-course gene editing medicines. The company’s lead programs – VERVE-101, VERVE-102, and VERVE-201 – target genes that have been extensively validated as targets for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a root cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). VERVE-101 and VERVE-102 are designed to permanently turn off the PCSK9 gene in the liver and are being developed initially for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) and ultimately to treat patients with established ASCVD who continue to be impacted by high LDL-C levels. VERVE-201 is designed to permanently turn off the ANGPTL3 gene in the liver and is initially being developed for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) and for refractory hypercholesterolemia where patients still have high LDL-C despite treatment with maximally-tolerated standard of care therapies. For more information, please visit www.VerveTx.com.
