SparingVision Strengthens Leadership Team with the Appointment of Dr Mehdi Gasmi as Chief Operating Officer

SparingVision Strengthens Leadership Team with the Appointment of Dr Mehdi Gasmi as Chief Operating Officer

Raffaella Toso, PhD, joins as VP Corporate Development & Alliance Management and Florence Paliargues appointed as VP Portfolio Project Management

Paris, December 9, 2021 – SparingVision, a genomic medicine company developing vision-saving treatments for ocular diseases, today announces the appointment of Dr Mehdi Gasmi, PhD, as Chief Operating Officer (COO), as well as other senior appointments, further strengthening the SparingVision team.

Mehdi Gasmi is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience across the gene therapy drug development field, including in ophthalmology indications. His deep experience in the design and translational development of gene therapy drug candidates has been garnered through a multitude of posts, most recently as a Board member and, prior to that, as President and Chief Scientific Officer at Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ADVM) in California, USA. During his time as CSO of Adverum, Gasmi led the company’s R&D and translational operations for AAV-based gene therapy products, specifically ADVM-022, a treatment for ocular VEGF-driven diseases.

Prior to Adverum, Mehdi Gasmi held numerous roles at gene therapy companies both in the US and in Europe, including Genethon, Ceregene, Cell Genesys and Chiron. In addition to his corporate experience, he worked on the development of HIV-based vectors for gene delivery at academic institutions including City of Hope and the University of California, San Diego. Mehdi Gasmi obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Claude Bernard University, Lyon in 1996.

Stéphane Boissel, President and Chief Executive Officer of SparingVision, said: “Following our recently announced transformational deal with Intellia Therapeutics, I am delighted to strengthen our management team with the appointment of Mehdi Gasmi to further support our corporate expansion and acceleration as a leader in ophthalmic genomic medicine. Mehdi brings extensive expertise in the gene therapy drug development space, particularly in ophthalmology.”

Dr Mehdi Gasmi, PhD, commented: “SparingVision’s disruptive approach to combat retinal disease is inspiring and I am excited to be joining such a visionary team. Encompassing both gene agnostic therapies and CRISPR-Cas9 approaches, SparingVision really has the world’s most exciting and broad pipeline to potentially bring significant change to patients in areas of huge unmet need.”

SparingVision is also delighted to announce the appointments of Dr Raffaella Toso, PhD, as VP Corporate Development and Florence Paliargues, Pharm. D, as VP Portfolio Project Management. Raffaella Toso is joining SparingVision from Spark Therapeutics where she most recently held the role of Search and Evaluation Lead. Raffaella Toso is based in Philadelphia, PA. Florence Paliargues has more than 15 years of experience in drug development and program leadership and was most recently Program Leader at biopharmaceutical company Cellectis. She is based in Paris, France.

Stéphane Boissel, President and Chief Executive Officer of SparingVision, said: “I am delighted to welcome Raffaella and Florence, who both have strong backgrounds in genomic medicines are a further demonstration of the exceptional talent we are bringing into the Company to support us in our mission.”

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About SparingVision
SparingVision is a genomic medicines company with a mission to translate pioneering science into vision saving treatments. Leveraging its unparalleled understanding of retinal diseases, SparingVision has built the world’s most compelling portfolio of synergistic cutting-edge gene therapy and genome editing treatments for inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Both of its most advanced products, SPVN06 and SPVN20 look to go beyond single gene correction therapies to deliver new mutation agnostic treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a group of IRDs which are the leading cause of blindness globally. The Company also has a strategic collaboration with Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) to develop novel genome editing-based treatments for ocular disease utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

SparingVision is backed by high-quality international investors including 4BIO Capital, Advent France Biotechnology, Bpifrance, Foundation Fighting Blindness (US), Fondation Voir & Entendre, Intellia Therapeutics, UPMC Enterprises, Jeito Capital, Ysios Capital.

Visit www.sparingvision.com for more and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @SparingVision.