Voyager Therapeutics Appoints Robert Hesslein as General Counsel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VYGR), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases, today announced the appointment of Robert Hesslein as general counsel. Mr. Hesslein’s experience includes more than 25 years as an in-house attorney leading and building legal organizations within the biotechnology industry, with specific expertise in domestic and international commercial law, securities and public company reporting, medical data privacy, as well as licensing and business development collaborations.

“I am delighted to welcome Bob as our general counsel and latest member of our executive management team,” said Andre Turenne, president and chief executive officer of Voyager Therapeutics. “Bob brings a wealth of legal and executive experience that will be invaluable as we continue to advance our efforts to develop needed therapies for patients suffering from severe neurological disorders.”

Mr. Hesslein expects to begin working at Voyager in early April. Mr. Hesslein is joining Voyager from Foundation Medicine (acquired by Roche in July 2018), where he served as senior vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer since 2012, responsible for managing corporate governance and all legal matters related to Foundation Medicine’s business including commercial, corporate and business development, compliance, and research and development functions.  Prior to Foundation Medicine, Mr. Hesslein was a senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Genzyme Corporation (acquired by Sanofi in April 2011), serving in increasingly senior roles for 16 years, managing the legal support for many of Genzyme's most significant transactions and establishing and leading Genzyme's legal support outside of the U.S. Mr. Hesslein began his legal career at Csaplar & Bok (acquired by Gaston & Snow in 1990), a Boston-based law firm where he spent eight years as an associate and four years as a partner.

Mr. Hesslein earned a B.A. from Yale University and received his J.D. from The Cornell Law School.

About Voyager Therapeutics

Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases. Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing and dosing and delivery techniques. Voyager’s pipeline focuses on severe neurological diseases in need of effective new therapies, including Parkinson’s disease, a monogenic form of ALS called SOD1, Huntington’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, neurodegenerative diseases related to defective or excess aggregation of tau protein in the brain including Alzheimer’s disease and severe, chronic pain. Voyager has strategic collaborations with Sanofi Genzyme and AbbVie.  Founded by scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy, expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains 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. The use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “undoubtedly,” “project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” or “continue,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, all statements Voyager makes regarding the appointment and employment of Mr. Hesslein, the initiation, timing, progress and reporting of results of its preclinical programs and clinical trials and its research and development programs, its ability to advance its AAV-based gene therapies into, and successfully initiate, enroll and complete, clinical trials, the potential clinical utility of its product candidates, its ability to continue to develop its gene therapy platform, its ability to develop manufacturing capability for its products and successfully transition its manufacturing process, its ability to perform under existing collaborations with, among others, Sanofi Genzyme and AbbVie and to add new programs to its pipeline, its ability to enter into new partnerships or collaborations, the sufficiency of its cash resources and the regulatory pathway of, and the timing or likelihood of its regulatory filings and approvals for, any of its product candidates, are forward looking. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by Voyager’s management that, although Voyager believes to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that Voyager expected.  Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the initiation and conduct of preclinical studies and clinical trials; the availability of data from clinical trials; the expectations for regulatory communications, submissions and approvals; the continued development of the gene therapy platform; Voyager’s scientific approach and general development progress; and the availability or commercial potential of Voyager’s product candidates. These statements are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties that are described in Voyager’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Voyager undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor Relations:    
                    Matt Osborne
                    Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Communications and Investor Relations 
                    857-259-5353
                    mosborne@vygr.com  
                    
                    Media:           
                    Sheryl Seapy 
                    W2O Group
                    949-903-4750
                    sseapy@w2ogroup.com