Adverum Biotechnologies Expands Leadership Team with the Appointment of Peter Soparkar as Chief Legal Officer

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADVM), a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in ocular and rare diseases, today announced the appointment of seasoned life sciences executive Peter Soparkar as chief legal officer. Most recently, Mr. Soparkar served as chief legal officer and head of human resources at Counsyl, Inc., prior to the company’s sale to Myriad Genetics and spent 10 years at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, most recently as their vice president and associate general counsel.

“We are pleased to welcome Peter to our leadership team as he brings deep legal and organizational experience,” said Leone Patterson, chief executive officer, Adverum Biotechnologies. “His breadth of industry knowledge and expertise managing through strategic business initiatives will be invaluable as we continue to advance our clinical and strategic plans to advance and expand our pipelines.”

Mr. Soparkar commented, “I’m excited to join Adverum at this pivotal time for the company. I look forward to working with the team to maximize Adverum’s potential of becoming a leader in the gene therapy space, focusing on developing new therapy options for patients with serious ocular and rare diseases.”

Mr. Soparkar has over 15 years of legal experience, including corporate development, corporate governance, legal, regulatory, commercial, and public compliance activities, for biotechnology companies as well as at a leading international law firm. Prior to joining Adverum, Mr. Soparkar was chief legal officer and head of human resources at Counsyl, Inc., a privately held genetic diagnostics company, where he also served as corporate secretary and head of compliance. He was instrumental in negotiating and executing the sale of Counsyl to Myriad Genetics in 2018. From 2006 – 2016, Mr. Soparkar was at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, where he led the legal team’s support of company operations and other business matters, including delivering on numerous debt and equity financings and four landmark transactions which included the launched tender-offer of Celator, the acquisitions of Italy-based Gentium, UK based EUSA Pharma, and the acquisition of and inversion into Ireland-based Azur Pharma. Prior to Jazz, Mr. Soparkar worked at Latham & Watkins in London and San Francisco, with a practice spanning international and domestic markets, as well as private and public transactions. He received a J.D. from New York University and a B.A. in economics and politics from Oberlin College.

On the date Mr. Soparkar commenced employment with Adverum, the company granted Mr. Soparkar a stock option to purchase 400,000 shares of Adverum’s common stock pursuant to the inducement grant exception under Nasdaq Rule 5635(c)(4), as an inducement that is material to his entering into employment with Adverum. The option has a per share exercise price equal to the closing sales price of Adverum’s common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market on the grant date, and will vest over four years, subject to his continued service with Adverum.

About Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.
Adverum Biotechnologies (Nasdaq: ADVM) is a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs for serious ocular and rare diseases. Adverum is evaluating its novel gene therapy candidate, ADVM-022, as a one-time, intravitreal injection for the treatment of its lead indication, wet age-related macular degeneration. For more information, please visit www.adverum.com.

Investor and Media Inquiries:

Investors:
Myesha Lacy
Adverum Biotechnologies
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
mlacy@adverum.com
1-650-304-3892

Media:
Cherilyn Cecchini, M.D.
Account Supervisor
ccecchini@lifescipublicrelations.com
1-646-876-5196

Source: Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.