Sustainability

At Adverum, our values define how we conduct business, shape patient care, apply science to medicine, and work and grow as a company. We strive to put our corporate values into action every day by reducing the environmental impact of our research and operations, providing safe, engaging and impactful work for our employees, and always leading with integrity.

Sustainability Oversight

We integrate environmental, social, and governance objectives into our decision-making to deliver long-term value to all of our stakeholders. Our leadership creates and monitors our sustainability-related programs, with our board of directors maintaining ultimate oversight.

To identify the sustainability issues material to our business, we are guided by best practices, feedback we receive from our stakeholders, including employees, regulators, patients and investors, and third-party thought leaders, such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.

Lead with Integrity

Adverum is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards. We understand and respect the obligation we have to our patients, their families and caregivers, to always operate ethically and maintain legal compliance.

Ethics and Compliance

We are guided by our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (Code of Conduct) that applies to all directors, officers, and employees of the company.

Adverum maintains a toll-free, 24/7 anonymous ethics hotline and reporting website for reporting any ethical concerns by employees or other parties. All reports are logged into our database, investigated, and tracked until resolved. A copy of any complaint is forwarded to our Chief Operating Officer, SVP, General Counsel, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Audit Committee Chair.

Adverum maintains a strict policy against any form of retaliation for an employee reporting in good faith a suspected Code of Conduct violation. We provide legal protection in accordance with applicable laws, including identity protection, and protection from retaliation, harassment, or intimidation.

Clinical Trial Standards

(SASB Safety of Clinical Trial Participants, HC-BP-210a.1)

Adverum is committed to conducting its clinical trials ethically and adhering to best practice principles. Our policy is to use Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines for designing, conducting, recording, and reporting our trials to provide assurance for the rights and safety of trial subjects; we conduct our own trials.

For each clinical study, a master Informed Consent Form (ICF) template is required and is submitted to an Institutional Review Board for approval before adoption. The ICF template provides information regarding the rights of trial subjects and includes relevant contact information in the event of a concern or complaint.

We require our clinical development employees to complete GxP training.

Strive Together

Our employees are crucial in our mission to provide hope to our patients and their families by delivering life-changing medical innovation for ocular and rare diseases. We retain, develop, and reward exceptional talent to meet our objectives for helping patients.

Diversity and Inclusion

Adverum’s success depends on the diversity of perspective, thought, experience, and background within our company. We value diversity and offer the same welcome to all employees and partners regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, or sexual orientation. Bullying, intimidation, or harassment of any kind is not acceptable in our workplace, and we actively tackle these issues by requiring anti-harassment training every two years for all employees.

Our diversity and inclusion programs are managed by our Associate Director, Corporate Engagement, Culture and Communications, with guidance from our Diversity Governance Committee. As part of fostering a diverse workforce, we have implemented employee-led employee resource groups.

Adverum’s 2021 EEO-1 Employee Diversity Statistics

Job Categories Hispanic or Latino Non-Hispanic or Latino Overall Totals
Male Female
Male Female White Black or African American Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Asian American Indian or Alaska Native Two or More Races White Black or African American Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Asian American Indian or Alaska Native Two or More Races
Executive/Sr. Officials and Mgrs     4     2   1 3           10
First/Mid Officials & Mgrs   1 17 3   17   2 10 5   20   3 78
Professionals 3 6 9 3 1 24   1 13 4   30   2 96
Technicians 1     1   1                 3
Sales Workers                             0
Administrative Support     1           4           5
Craft Workers                             0
Operatives                             0
Laborers & Helpers                             0
Service Workers                             0
Total 4 7 31 7 1 44 0 4 30 9 0 50 0 5 192

Training and Development

(Employee Recruitment, Development & Retention, HC-BP-330a.1)

We take great pride in listening to our employees and making Adverum a great place to work. Adverum offers programs to foster both leadership and professional skills development. Employees at all levels of the organization have access to Adverum University, learning forums, and management certificate programs. Our comprehensive training and development programs aim to cover topics from new hire training to professional, management, and leadership development.

Employees are also encouraged to be involved in talent development. All of our managers are required to have development conversations with their direct reports, and we offer career planning and calibration at each level. Adverum aims to support its employees at every step of their careers by sponsoring relevant trainings and courses where applicable. Every employee has the opportunity for development and performance reviews.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer our employees industry-leading benefits, including competitive salaries and bonuses, 401K match, 20-day PTO for new hires, and health benefits, which Adverum covers 90% of the insurance costs for both employee and their dependents. Benefits available to all employees working 30+ hours per week include:

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401K retirement program with company match
  • Employee stock purchase plan
  • Paid parental leave
  • Medical and prescription drug coverage
  • Supplemental health insurance
  • Life and disability insurance
  • Employee assistance program
  • Travel assistance program

We diligently encourage our employees and their managers to proactively manage their work-life balance, such as using “Core Meeting Hours” and judicious use of time off to recognize the benefits of an engaged workforce.  

Pay Equity

Female Salary as a Percentage of Male Salary Number of Employees Percentage of Women Median Percentage Mean Percentage
Leadership* 20 35% 98.2% 94.9%
Salaried – G&A 24 67% 104.7% 97.1%
Salaried – R&D 78 55% 96.8% 102.0%
Hourly – G&A 6 33% 108.3% 108.5%
Hourly – R&D 0 N/A N/A N/A
Overall 128 53% 89.2% 88.6%

* Leadership represents all VP’s & above.

Female Salary as a Percentage of Male Salary
Leadership*
Number of Employees 20
Percentage of Women 35%
Median Percentage 98.2%
Mean Percentage 94.9%
Salaried – G&A
Number of Employees 24
Percentage of Women 67%
Median Percentage 104.7%
Mean Percentage 97.1%
Salaried – R&D
Number of Employees 78
Percentage of Women 55%
Median Percentage 96.8%
Mean Percentage 102.0%
Hourly – G&A
Number of Employees 6
Percentage of Women 33%
Median Percentage 108.3%
Mean Percentage 108.5%
Hourly – R&D
Number of Employees 0
Percentage of Women N/A
Median Percentage N/A
Mean Percentage N/A
Overall
Number of Employees 128
Percentage of Women 53%
Median Percentage 89.2%
Mean Percentage 88.6%

* Leadership represents all VP’s & above.

Adverum is committed to the principle of equal pay for equal work for our employees and seeks to ensure employees are paid equitably for substantially similar work. We undertake a pay equity analysis after each merit and promotion cycle. If a discrepancy appears to be identified, we conduct an internal review to evaluate and resolve, if necessary.

Our overall raw ratio of median female salary to median male salary is 89.2% (and the mean raw salary ratio is 88.6%), as of September 30, 2022.  This equity gap is attributed to a greater number of men in senior management positions. We are committed to recruiting and promoting diverse talent across all levels of our organization as we work across our company and industry to advance equity.

Employee Engagement

Our Leadership Team assesses engagement as well as detailed employee turnover data to understand and identify potential opportunities for improvement. As part of our efforts, we conduct annual, anonymous employee engagement surveys supplemented with pulse surveys throughout the year. Our latest employee net promotor score was 23.

Additionally, we actively monitor our Glassdoor score and review feedback. As of September 2022, we earned an overall 3.9/5 rating and a 4.4/5 rating for diversity. 74% of the raters would recommend working at Adverum to a friend.

We were recognized as a “Top Workplaces” by Bay Area News Group, for each of 2021 and 2022.

We believe these scores and our award represent our dedication to keeping our employees connected, especially as we transitioned to working remotely during the pandemic and then into a more hybrid model. We have held many Zoom events, including happy hours, where our employees connect with each other on a social level to continue to build relationships.

Adverum is committed to fostering an open communications environment. As part of our formal grievance procedure, employees can report issues to their supervisor, human resources business partners, or anonymously submit a complaint on our corporate intranet.

Pioneer with Patients

Product Quality and Safety

The safety of patients is a company-wide focus. We are committed to the continuous evaluation of the benefits and risks of our investigational products and proactively take action to protect the safety and well-being of those taking our therapies. We set high standards and focus on achieving continuous improvements in the effectiveness of our quality processes.

Our president and chief executive officer, chief medical officer, chief development officer, chief scientific officer, senior vice president of quality, and senior vice president, head of technical operations oversee our quality and safety programs and assume managerial responsibility. We are a clinical-stage company and do not manufacture products for commercial use or sale. We rely on third-party contract manufacturers for required raw materials and finished products for our preclinical and clinical trials. All of our contract manufacturers must be GMP facilities, and all supplier contracts refer to this requirement. All products and services will undergo stringent regulatory and self-evaluation safety risk assessments to meet our extensive quality requirements.

To ensure safety, we have extensive emergency response processes in place for testing, and in adverse circumstances, to notify the FDA and investigate the issue. We have standard operating procedures in place for incident investigation and corrective action. We provide new hire safety training for all relevant employees on product safety and quality procedures.

Environment

We understand our responsibility to help protect the environment and seek to minimize our environmental impact.

Our Environmental Health and Safety staff actively manage our impact to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. We conduct routine internal inspections and are audited on an annual basis by a Certified Unified Program Agency (San Mateo County). We recognize the importance of carbon and waste reduction and monitor our footprint. To reduce our energy use and related carbon emissions, we have updated portions of our headquarters and laboratories to more energy-efficient LED lighting.

To reduce our climate impact, we source electricity from Peninsula Clean Energy, who provides clean energy, including energy from sources that are 100% carbon-free.

Carbon Emissions

  Energy Usage
(MWh)
CO2
(metric tons)
Scope 1 –
Natural Gas Usage
1,136 205
Scope 2 –
Electricity
1,921 11
Total 3,057 216

 

Scope 1 –
Natural Gas Usage
Energy Usage (MWh) 1,136
CO2 (metric tons) 205
Scope 2-
Electricity
Energy Usage (MWh) 1,921
CO2 (metric tons) 11
Total
Energy Usage (MWh) 3,057
CO2 (metric tons) 216