Alfred W. Sandrock, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Joins Verge Genomics’ Board of Directors

Dive Brief:

• Al Sandrock, a former top Biogen executive who led development of the company’s Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, is joining the board of directors at Verge Genomics, a drug discovery startup, after leaving Biogen at the end of last year.

• The appointment is significant for Verge, which raised nearly $100 million in December to advance a group of experimental drug candidates toward human testing. Sandrock, while now best known for developing Aduhelm and defending it through intense controversy, has a track record of past success in drug R&D, having championed the Biogen medicines Tysabri, Tecfidera and Spinraza.

• Sandrock’s appointment to Verge’s board comes roughly one week after he joined the board and executive committee of Voyager Therapeutics, a gene therapy developer working on treatments for neurological disorders.