Avidity Biosciences Appoints Michael MacLean as Chief Financial Officer

SAN DIEGO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Avidity Biosciences (Avidity), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company pioneering Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs™), announced today the appointment of Michael MacLean as Chief Financial Officer. 

"Mike is a leader who has successfully built and led financial teams for several biotechnology companies during their critical phases of growth," said Sarah Boyce, President and CEO of Avidity. "His financial acumen and operating capabilities make him a great addition to our team. I look forward to working with Mike as we execute on our vision to advance our pipeline of novel AOCs."

Mr. MacLean brings decades of relevant financial industry experience to Avidity, with deep experience in funding biotechnology companies to advance novel therapies in the rare and orphan disease space.  Most recently, Mr. MacLean served as Chief Financial Officer of Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. where he led the buildout of Akcea's financial and commercial infrastructure.  Prior to Akcea, Mr. MacLean served as Chief Financial Officer of PureTech Health, plc, as well as Chief Accounting Officer of Biogen Inc. where he led the company's worldwide finance operations.  

"With our AOC approach, Avidity is playing an important role in the next wave of innovation in RNA therapeutics which makes this an exciting time to join the company," said Mr. MacLean.  "I look forward to working with the team to execute on Avidity's vision to bring meaningful therapies to patients."

About Avidity Biosciences

Avidity Biosciences, Inc. is pioneering a new class of oligonucleotide-based therapies called AOCs designed to overcome the current limitations of oligonucleotide therapies in order to treat a wide range of serious diseases. Avidity utilizes its proprietary AOC platform to design, engineer and develop therapeutics that combine the tissue selectivity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and the precision of oligonucleotide therapies in order to access previously undruggable tissue and cell types and more effectively target underlying genetic drivers of diseases. Avidity's lead product candidate, AOC 1001, is designed to treat myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), and its four other muscle programs are focused on the treatment of muscle atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease. In addition to its muscle franchise, Avidity has development efforts focused on immune and other cell types. In April 2019, Avidity and Eli Lilly announced a strategic collaboration to utilize Avidity's AOC technology to pursue mRNA targets initially in immunology and other select indications outside of muscle.

For more information, please visit www.aviditybiosciences.com.

Contacts:

Company:
Leslie Ann Kerins
(858) 401-7900
leslie@aviditybio.com

Media and Investors:

Amy Conrad
Juniper Point
858-366-3243
amy@juniper-point.com

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SOURCE Avidity Biosciences, Inc.