AAVantgarde appoints Dr. Peter K. Kaiser to the Board of Directors

November 8, 2023 — AAVantgarde Bio (AAVantgarde), a clinical-stage, Italian-based international biotechnology company with two proprietary Adeno-Associated Viral (AAV) vector platforms for large gene delivery, today announced the appointment of Peter K. Kaiser, MD as a Non-Executive Director, effective immediately. Dr. Kaiser is a world-renowned ophthalmologist and has held leading ophthalmology roles across the field including in academic, research, clinical and business settings.

“Peter is a word renowned ophthalmology expert and is actively involved in clinical research having served as Study Chairman or Principal Investigator for numerous major, multi-center, international ophthalmology retinal disorder clinical trials,” said Dr. Natalia Misciattelli, Chief Executive Officer of AAVantgarde. “His deep ophthalmology experience will be invaluable as we start to generate clinical data and will help to guide our clinical development plans.”

“I am pleased to be joining the Board of Directors at AAVantgarde and to be working with the dedicated management team to progress the companies' retinal gene therapy programs,” said Dr. Kaiser. “They have two exciting, differentiated IRD programs that have the potential to treat diseases where there is currently no treatment option.”

Dr. Kaiser is a world-renowned ophthalmologist and researcher with over 25 years of experience in leading ophthalmology roles. He currently works in the vitreoretinal department of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio where he is the Chaney Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology Research and Professor of Ophthalmology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Dr. Kaiser has been honored to receive the Lew R. Wasserman Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness and the Macula Society’s Young Investigator Award. Complementing his research endeavors, Dr. Kaiser serves on numerous scientific advisory boards and addresses his research interests as an invited speaker at national and international conferences. He is a major contributor to medical literature having authored 7 textbooks, 30 book chapters, and more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He is Editor-in-Chief of Retinal Physician, Associate Editor of International Ophthalmology Clinics, and serves on the editorial boards of American Journal of Ophthalmology, Retina, Retina Today, and Ocular Surgery News. Dr. Kaiser has been recognized with the American Society of Retina Specialists Honor and Senior Honor Awards, along with the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement, Senior Achievement, and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He has been named one of the 150 Top Innovators in Retina by Ocular Surgery News, selected as a charter inductee of the Retina Hall of Fame in 2017, and appeared on The Ophthalmologist’s Power List 2018 and 2020 as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world of ophthalmology.

Dr. Kaiser graduated magna cum laude with Highest Honors from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School. He completed an internal medicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and a vitreoretinal fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

About AAVantgarde Bio
AAVantgarde Bio is a clinical stage, Italian headquartered, international biotechnology company that has developed two proprietary Adeno-Associated Viral (AAV) vector platforms to address the gene therapy cargo capacity limitations of AAV vectors. The AAVantgarde platforms could be used to deliver large genes to ocular and non-ocular tissues. Co-founded by Professor Alberto Auricchio at TIGEM (Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine) in Naples, Italy, and Telethon Foundation, AAVantgarde will initially validate the platform in the clinic in two inherited retinal diseases with clear unmet need. For more information, please visit:

www.aavantgardebio.com

Contact:
Julia Wilson - JW Communications
Phone: +44 (0) 7818 430877
Email: juliawilsonuk@gmail.com