Abeona Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Michael Amoroso as Chief Commercial Officer

To lead Abeona’s commercial organization, EB-101 commercialization planning and pre-commercial strategy for AAV-based gene therapy programs

NEW YORK and CLEVELAND, July 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ABEO), a fully-integrated leader in gene and cell therapy, today announced the appointment of Michael Amoroso as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective immediately. Mr. Amoroso brings to Abeona over 20 years of product commercialization experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, most recently as Senior Vice President and Head of Worldwide Commercial, Cell Therapy at Kite, a Gilead Company.

Mr. Amoroso will have overall responsibility for building the Company’s commercial organization, developing the commercialization strategy for EB-101, its autologous, gene-corrected cell therapy for the treatment of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) and its lead product candidate, as well as leading pre-commercial planning for its investigational adeno-associated virus vector (AAV)-based gene therapies.

“Michael is a highly accomplished commercial leader with a focus on cell and gene therapies and a proven track record of launching innovative drugs for rare diseases,” said João Siffert, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Abeona. “As we advance our pivotal Phase 3 VIITAL study of EB-101 in RDEB, Michael’s proven track record in commercialization, supply chain management for personalized, autologous cell therapies, experience in developing novel launch plans, working closely with governments around the world to ensure patients have access, and ability for building commercial and organizational capabilities will lay the groundwork for our potential go-to-market strategy for EB-101. Furthermore, his history of integrating commercial perspective into pipeline programs will be instrumental in positioning our investigational AAV gene therapies to shape the treatment paradigm for patients with MPS IIIA, MPS IIIB, and other rare genetic diseases.”

Prior to joining Abeona, Mr. Amoroso held various senior level commercial positions at leading biopharmaceutical companies, including Kite, Eisai Inc., Celgene Corporation (now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company), and Sanofi. At Kite, he was responsible for the company’s worldwide commercial organization leading the commercialization efforts for the autologous CAR T-cell therapy, YESCARTA, and the future cell therapy pipeline. Before Kite, Mr. Amoroso was Senior Vice President, Americas for Eisai’s Commercial Oncology Business Group, where he was accountable for teams charged with creating and driving commercial strategy and implementation for the company’s approved products and earlier-stage assets. Previously, Mr. Amoroso worked at Celgene for six years in several commercial roles before serving as the organization’s Commercial Lead for CAR T-cell therapy programs. In this capacity, he helped Celgene develop an organizational model to commercialize cell therapies including specialized manufacturing and customer services for patients with lymphoma and myeloma. Before joining Celgene, Mr. Amoroso held various marketing and sales leadership positions over his 10-plus year tenure at Sanofi. Mr. Amoroso earned his M.B.A. in Management from the Stern School of Business, New York University, and his B.A. in Biological Sciences, summa cum laude, from Rider University.