Release Details

Cambridge, Mass., March 25, 2014 – Voyager Therapeutics, a gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for fatal and debilitating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced that Bernard Ravina, M.D., M.S.C.E., has joined the company as Vice President of Clinical Development and Dinah Sah, Ph.D., has been named a permanent member of the leadership team after serving as Interim Senior Vice President of Neuroscience since the company’s launch early this year.

“People are our most important asset at Voyager, and we are focused on assembling the right team with the right expertise to advance the company’s mission of transforming the treatment of CNS diseases with novel gene therapies that dramatically improve patients’ lives,” said Mark Levin, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Voyager and Partner at Third Rock Ventures. “Bernard and Dinah each bring deep experience in their respective areas of expertise and will be instrumental in driving Voyager’s product programs forward in Parkinson’s disease, ALS and Friedreich’s ataxia, as well as fueling a robust and sustainable product engine for many years to come.” 

Dr. Ravina will be responsible for clinical development and strategy for Voyager’s product programs. He brings deep expertise across a number of CNS diseases and more than 15 years of clinical research experience in both academia and industry. Prior to Voyager, Dr. Ravina was Medical Director in Clinical Development at Biogen Idec. There, he worked on both small molecule drugs and biologics for the treatment of neurological disorders and was responsible for biomarker and clinical development plans in Parkinson’s disease, stroke and neuropathic pain. Before joining Biogen Idec, Dr. Ravina was Associate Professor of Neurology, Director of the Movement and Inherited Neurological Disorders Unit, and Associate Chair of Neurology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He is the author of more than 80 scientific publications. Dr. Ravina holds an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Pennsylvania.  He completed residency training in neurology and a fellowship in Parkinson's disease and movement disorders at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Sah is responsible for Voyager’s discovery and preclinical development efforts and plays an instrumental role in key scientific decisions across the company. She brings more than 20 years of experience in research and drug development in the biotechnology industry, focused on neurodegenerative diseases. She has expertise leading multiple programs from early research through Phase 1 clinical trials, and has discovered novel therapeutic targets and drug candidates that have advanced into clinical development. Most recently, her leadership of several RNA interference therapeutics R&D programs resulted in the landmark demonstration of human proof-of-mechanism for this novel class of drugs. Before joining Voyager, Dr. Sah spent seven years at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where she was most recently Vice President of Research, leading discovery research and multiple research and development programs. Prior to Alnylam, Dr. Sah was Associate Director of Research at Biogen, where she led neuroscience research and strategic planning for neurobiology, and before that, she headed neuroscience research at Signal Pharmaceuticals, where she also led multiple corporate partnerships and projects. Dr. Sah is an inventor on more than 25 patents and has authored numerous publications, including articles in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron and PNAS. Dr. Sah holds a B.S. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard University and completed her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School.

About Voyager Therapeutics

Voyager Therapeutics is a gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for fatal and debilitating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector optimization and engineering, dosing techniques, as well as process development and production. The company’s initial pipeline is focused on CNS diseases in dire need of effective new therapies, including Parkinson’s disease, a monogenic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Friedreich’s ataxia. Founded by scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy, expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics was launched in 2014 with funding from leading life sciences investor Third Rock Ventures and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com.

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