Viridian Appoints Sarah Gheuens, M.D., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors
25 Sep 2023
Executive ChangePhase 3
- Dr. Gheuens is the Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. -
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRDN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing potential best-in-class medicines for serious and rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Sarah Gheuens, M.D., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors. Dr. Gheuens is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Head of R&D of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
“Sarah’s extensive global clinical development and regulatory experience, including oversight of Phase 3 programs through regulatory submissions and launch, will prove extraordinarily valuable as Viridian advances its late-stage candidates for the potential benefit of patients living with thyroid eye disease (TED),” said Tomas Kiselak, Chairperson of the Viridian Therapeutics Board of Directors. “We’re fortunate to be able to strengthen the Board with a physician-scientist of Sarah’s caliber, and I very much look forward to working with her.”
Dr. Gheuens joined Agios in 2019, was promoted to CMO in 2021, and assumed leadership of the R&D organization in 2022. During her time at Agios, she has overseen early- and late-stage clinical development globally across multiple indications, including pyruvate kinase deficiency, thalassemia, and sickle cell disease.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Board of an organization so clearly committed to addressing areas of high unmet medical need among patients affected by serious and rare diseases, particularly those in the complex autoimmune space,” said Dr. Gheuens. “I’ve dedicated much of my career to developing medicines for underserved patient populations across a range of therapeutic areas. I’m excited to leverage my experience to support the Viridian team as it focuses on delivering potentially first- and best-in-class therapies to change the treatment paradigm for TED.”
Prior to Agios, Dr. Gheuens held roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen in the areas of safety, medical affairs, and clinical development. Before transitioning to industry, she was a clinician at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), taking care of patients with HIV and neurological complications while also researching progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Dr. Gheuens received her medical degree from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium, and completed her neurology residency at the University Hospital of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, followed by an HIV/neurology fellowship at BIDMC. She also holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a Master’s in Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School.
About Viridian Therapeutics
Viridian Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on engineering and developing potential best-in-class medicines for patients with serious and rare diseases. Viridian’s expertise in antibody discovery and engineering enables it to develop differentiated therapeutic candidates for previously validated drug targets in commercially established disease areas.
Viridian is advancing multiple candidates in the clinic for the treatment of patients with thyroid eye disease (TED). The Company is conducting its first global Phase 3 trial called THRIVE to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VRDN-001 in patients with active TED. Viridian is also planning a second Phase 3 trial, called THRIVE-2, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VRDN-001 in patients with chronic TED. In addition to its intravenously administered VRDN-001 program, the Company is advancing three candidates for its subcutaneous strategy with the goal of providing a more conveniently administered therapy to patients with TED. Viridian is developing multiple preclinical assets in autoimmune and rare diseases.
Viridian is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit . Follow Viridian on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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