PR Newswire, Wednesday, January 15, 1997 at 08:19
ALAMEDA, Calif., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Avigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVGN) today
announced the appointment of Robert M. Maurer as vice president, business
development.
Prior to joining Avigen, Mr. Maurer was the co-founder and chief operating
officer of Molecular Geriatric Corporation, a privately held Alzheimer's
disease research company. From 1974 to 1992, he held various general
management, marketing and sales positions in the Diagnostics Division of
Abbott Laboratories.
"Over the past year, Avigen's technology has progressed to the stage where
corporate partnering is now a key component of business strategy," said John
Monahan, president and chief executive officer of Avigen. "With over 20 years
of pharmaceutical industry experience in building a variety of business and
partnering relationships, Bob has developed an extensive worldwide network of
pharmaceutical industry contacts that should serve our company's goals well.
We are very pleased to welcome him to Avigen."
"Avigen's technology platform for gene delivery appears to overcome many
of the limitations that have constrained the field of gene therapy," said
Mr. Maurer. "I look forward to helping shape the future development and
eventual commercialization of this technology as part of the Avigen management
team."
Mr. Maurer holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard University Graduate School of
Business and a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Carleton College in
Northfield, Minnesota.
Avigen, Inc. is a biotechnology company involved in the development of
gene therapy products derived from adeno-associated virus for the treatment of
inherited and acquired diseases. The company's proposed gene therapy products
are designed for in vivo administration to achieve the production of
therapeutic products within the body. Avigen is focusing its efforts on
developing products to deliver genes for treatments of brain, liver and
prostate cancer, anemia, hemophilia, hyperlipidemia, metabolic storage
diseases and blood cell-related diseases, including sickle cell anemia,
beta-thalassemia and HIV. |
