Amber Salzman has resigned from her position as president and CEO of Adverum Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ADVM]]) effective May 3. She has also stepped down from the Menlo Park, CA, gene therapy developer’s board. Adverum said in a securities filing that the resignation was a mutual decision as the board and Salzman agreed that the company is “best served by a chief executive officer based out of the company’s headquarters, rather than commuting weekly from the East Coast.” Chief financial officer Leone Patterson has been appointed interim chief executive. Adverum said Salzman will consult with the company to help with the transition.
Chief medical officer Athena Countouriotis is also resigning from the company, effective May 11. No reason was given. In a securities filing, Adverum said Countouriotis informed the company of her decision on April 27. Linda Neuman, vice president of clinical development, has been appointed interim chief medical officer. Adverum’s lead drug, ADVM-043, is in early-stage clinical testing as a treatment for an inherited deficiency of alpha-1 antitrypsin, a protein in the blood.
