Stoke Therapeutics Appoints Thomas Leggett as Chief Financial Officer
April 29 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
– Mr. Leggett brings more than two decades
of experience as an investment banker and corporate executive
leading financial strategy and operations for life science
companies –
Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: STOK), a biotechnology company
dedicated to addressing the underlying cause of severe diseases by
upregulating protein expression with RNA-based medicines, today
announced the appointment of Thomas (Tommy) Leggett as Chief
Financial Officer. In this role, Mr. Leggett will be responsible
for overseeing all aspects of the Company’s financial strategy and
operations. Mr. Leggett succeeds Stephen Tulipano, CPA, MBA, who
resigned his position as Stoke’s Chief Financial Officer effective
Tuesday, May 7.
“I want to thank Mr. Tulipano for his contributions to Stoke
over the past five years. He has led multiple financings, including
Stoke’s highly successful Initial Public Offering in 2019 and the
recent $125M public offering and leaves the Company well positioned
to execute on our goal of delivering the first potential
disease-modifying therapy to patients with Dravet syndrome,” said
Edward M. Kaye, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Stoke
Therapeutics. “We welcome Mr. Leggett to Stoke and look forward to
working with him to build on this strong foundation as Stoke enters
a new phase of growth, starting with advancing STK-001 into a
registrational study and looking ahead to developing our pipeline
of potential disease-modifying medicines.”
"The recently announced landmark data from the studies of
STK-001 for the treatment of Dravet syndrome mark the start of a
very exciting time for Stoke as it transitions to a late-stage
clinical company while building a commercial organization,” said
Mr. Leggett. “I look forward to working with the Stoke leadership
team and share their deep commitment to Stoke’s mission of
delivering novel new medicines to people living with severe
diseases like Dravet syndrome.”
Mr. Leggett brings more than 20 years of experience as a
biotechnology executive, board member and as an investment banker.
He has led financial strategy and operations and secured financing
for dozens of life science companies. Prior to joining Stoke, Mr.
Leggett served as Chief Financial Officer at Affinia Therapeutics.
Before joining Affinia Therapeutics, Mr. Leggett was Chief
Financial Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, where he led the
Company’s $85 million Series C financing and $231 million IPO.
Before joining Black Diamond, Mr. Leggett served as Chief Financial
Officer at Axcella Health, where he helped raise $156 million
across three financings, including an IPO. Mr. Leggett spent more
than a decade as an investment banker for the healthcare groups at
J.P. Morgan Securities, Lazard Frères & Company, and UBS
Securities. Mr. Leggett also currently serves on the board of
directors of Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd.
Mr. Leggett holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance
from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and
earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia
University.
About Stoke Therapeutics
Stoke Therapeutics (Nasdaq: STOK), is a biotechnology company
dedicated to addressing the underlying cause of severe diseases by
upregulating protein expression with RNA-based medicines. Using
Stoke’s proprietary TANGO (Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene
Output) approach, Stoke is developing antisense oligonucleotides
(ASOs) to selectively restore protein levels. Stoke’s first
compound, STK-001, is in clinical testing for the treatment of
Dravet syndrome, a severe and progressive genetic epilepsy. Dravet
syndrome is one of many diseases caused by a haploinsufficiency, in
which a loss of ~50% of normal protein levels leads to disease.
Stoke is pursuing the development of STK-002 for the treatment of
autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA), the most common inherited
optic nerve disorder. Stoke’s initial focus is haploinsufficiencies
and diseases of the central nervous system and the eye, although
proof of concept has been demonstrated in other organs, tissues,
and systems, supporting its belief in the broad potential for its
proprietary approach. Stoke is headquartered in Bedford,
Massachusetts with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more
information, visit https://www.stoketherapeutics.com/.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not
limited to, the ability of STK-001 to treat the underlying cause of
Dravet syndrome, and the timing and expected progress of clinical
trials, regulatory decisions and successful development of STK-001.
Statements including words such as “will,” “expect,” “plan,” and
“potential” and statements in the future tense are forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, as well as assumptions, which, if they prove
incorrect or do not fully materialize, could cause results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks
and uncertainties related to: the Company’s ability to advance,
obtain regulatory approval of, and ultimately commercialize its
product candidates, including STK-001; positive results in a
clinical trial may not be replicated in subsequent trials;
successes in early stage trials may not be predictive of results in
later stage trials; the Company’s ability to fund development
activities and achieve development goals; and other risks and
uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” in the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2023, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and the other
documents it files from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no
obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240429846358/en/
Stoke Media & Investor Contacts:
Dawn Kalmar
Chief Communications Officer
dkalmar@stoketherapeutics.com
781-303-8302
Eric Rojas
Vice President, Investor Relations
IR@stoketherapeutics.com
617-312-2754
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