Richard Francis, former chief executive of the Sandoz division of Novartis, has been named CEO of the gene therapy company Purespring Therapeutics Ltd, effective 1 February. Purespring was launched in November 2020 to develop AAV gene therapies for kidney disease. It was founded by Syncona Ltd, which provided Series A funding of £45 million.
At Sandoz, Mr Francis led the development of biosimilar medicines and also sat on the Novartis executive committee. Prior to this, he worked at Biogen Idec where he held a number of global and country leadership positions.
In addition to leading Purespring, Mr Francis will spend part of his time as a partner at Syncona advising the company on other assets in its portfolio.
Purespring announced the appointment on 8 January 2021.
Copyright 2021 Evernow Publishing Ltd