Gyroscope Therapeutics Strengthens Senior Leadership Ahead of Next Stage of Company Growth
Nadia K. Waheed, MD, MPH appointed Chief Medical Officer and
London February 14, 2020 – Gyroscope Therapeutics, a company developing gene therapies and surgical delivery systems for retinal diseases, announces the strengthening of its leadership team with the hiring of Dr. Nadia Waheed from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the promotion of Dr. Jane Hughes, formerly VP Translational Research, to Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).
These additions to the Gyroscope Executive Committee come as the company is currently enrolling its initial Phase I/II clinical trial for the lead investigational gene therapy GT005 and preparing to move into its proof of concept Phase II clinical program.
Khurem Farooq, Chief Executive Officer, Gyroscope Therapeutics said: “We are delighted to welcome Nadia as CMO and Jane to her new role as CSO. Nadia’s expertise in ophthalmology and understanding of the patient experience will be invaluable at this stage in our development, as we continue to move our clinical programme forward and broaden our reach across the United States and the rest of the world. Jane’s expertise has been critical in building the biological understanding to support our advancement into the clinic. She has a proven track record as a translational biologist who has effectively bridged between pre-clinical and clinical programs. I welcome both to the Gyroscope Executive Committee and look forward to working together to develop our gene therapy for one of the leading causes of vision loss, dry age-related macular degeneration.”
Dr Nadia Waheed said: “This is an exciting time for me to join Gyroscope. As a retinal surgeon, and a frequent collaborator with innovative companies, my passion has been to find meaningful solutions for patients facing retinal diseases. GT005 represents a unique approach as a one-time gene therapy that may slow the progression of a blinding disease for patients for whom currently there is no good option. I’m excited to be part of a team that I believe will make a difference for people with dry AMD.”
Dr Jane Hughes said: “Over the past year I’ve been privileged to work with the researchers and scientific founders at Gyroscope to better understand the complement system and its role in dry AMD to bring GT005 from an idea in a laboratory to an investigational gene therapy. I’m excited about the next phase of research growth that lies ahead in building the Gyroscope pipeline of medicines.”
Dr Nadia Waheed was previously Director of the Boston Image Reading Center and Consultant at the New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. She received her medical degree summa cum laude from the Aga Khan University Medical School, Pakistan, and a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She trained in Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School/Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary Program in Ophthalmology, which was followed by a fellowship in retina at the Harvard Medical School/Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. She then joined the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute as faculty. This was followed by two years of International
Ophthalmology where she established the Retina Unit at the Shifa Hospital, following which she joined the Tufts Medical Center in Boston in 2010. Nadia has authored over 50 papers in peer-reviewed publications. She has co-authored and edited three books in Ophthalmology and has contributed to several more. She has participated as a principal investigator or co-investigator in many clinical trials and laboratory investigations. Her research interests include ocular imaging, diabetic eye disease and age-related macular degeneration, as well as clinical trial design and analysis. Her research team was amongst the first to publish on in-vivo changes in the choroidal vasculature in OCT angiography in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration, as well as on the sensitivity and specificity of OCT angiography in detecting choroidal neovascularization.
As attending physician specializing in the care of patients with vitreoretinal disorders and ocular imaging at the Tufts University Department of Ophthalmology, Nadia also provided direct instruction of medical students, ophthalmology residents, retina fellows, research fellows and PhD and post-doctoral students. She has received two teaching awards, one from the residents at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the second from the Shifa College of Medicine.
Dr Jane Hughes previously held the role of VP Translational Research at Gyroscope. She is a highly experienced and strategic scientific leader with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery, translational medicine and clinical science gained through the development of projects from therapeutic concept through to early stage clinical development. Most recently she served as Senior Director of Integrated Drug Discovery at Charles River but also held positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline and MedImmune. Jane graduated from Keele University in 1998 with a PhD in Developmental Immunology.
About Gyroscope: Vision for Life
Gyroscope Therapeutics is developing and delivering gene therapy beyond rare disease to treat a leading cause of blindness, dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Dry AMD is the leading cause of permanent vision impairment for people aged 65 and older and there are no approved treatments.
Our investigational gene therapy, GT005, is designed to restore balance to a part of our immune system called the complement system. An overactive complement system leads to inflammation that damages healthy eye tissues. Our ultimate goal is to slow, or possibly stop the progression of dry-AMD. Patients in our Phase I/II clinical trial, known as the FOCUS study, receive a single dose of GT005 through an injection below their retina.
Syncona, our lead investor, helped us create the only retinal gene therapy company to combine discovery, research, drug development, a manufacturing platform and surgical delivery capabilities. Headquartered in London, UK, with locations in Philadelphia and San Francisco, our mission is to preserve sight and fight the devastating impact of blindness. For more information, visit www.gyroscopetx.com and follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
