Orchard Therapeutics appoints Mark Rothera as President and CEO

Orchard Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing transformative gene therapies for patients with severe and life threatening inherited diseases, appointed Mark Rothera President and CEO.

Rothera will bring 28 years of experience to Orchard Therapeutics in the biopharmaceutical industry, including driving the transition of multiple emerging biotechnology companies from R&D stage to commercialisation.

During his career, he has focused on bringing novel therapies to market for patients with rare diseases and has launched seven orphan drugs.

Until recently Rothera served as CCO of PTC Therapeutics; he helped transition the company from a privately funded, US based R&D biotech to a public, commercial stage company with a 47 country commercialisation footprint. He achieved this by building a global commercialisation capability and successfully launching two rare disease therapies.

Prior to joining PTC, he served as Global President of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and VP & General Manager of commercial operations at Shire Human Genetic Therapies for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Rothera received an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Company directors Ben Auspitz and Alex Pasteur, of F-Prime Capital, said they were delighted to welcome Rothera to the company, remarking he had a patient centred approach focused on delivery early access to innovative therapies.

Rothera said: “Gene therapy can have a profound, life changing effect on patients with severe inherited diseases. The clinical data we have seen to date with Orchard’s therapy for ADA-SCID is exceptional and the company has assembled an impressive R&D pipeline to apply the approach more widely. I am honoured to join such a talented management team and exceptional academic founders as CEO and I look forward to leading Orchard in the years ahead.”

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