Steven Paul, a founder of Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VYGR]]) and its current president and CEO, plans to move on to a new role as executive science advisor. Paul will remain CEO while the Cambridge, MA-gene therapy developer searches for his successor. Paul’s first position at Voyager was president of R&D. He became president and CEO of the company in 2014. Paul’s earlier experience includes serving as a venture partner at Third Rock Ventures as well as a 17-year run at Eli Lilly (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]).
Voyager’s lead drug candidate is an experimental gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease. The company is developing the treatment VY-AADC01 without partner Sanofi (NYSE: [[ticker:SNY]]). Last October, Sanofi declined its option to pick up rights to the drug outside of the U.S. after Voyager said it would not also sign away its U.S. rights. The companies remain partners on other gene therapies.
