Passage Bio, Inc. announced the appointment of Maxine Gowen to its board of directors, effective February 18, 2021. Dr. Gowen is chief executive officer of Tamuro Bio, a post that she has held since July 2019. Dr. Gowen was the founding president and chief executive officer of Trevena, Inc. from 2007 to October 2018, and has served as a member of Trevena’s board of directors since 2008. Dr. Gowen previously held a variety of leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, over a period of 15 years. As senior vice president for GSK’s Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery, she developed an innovative new approach to externalizing drug discovery. She also currently serves on the boards of directors for Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., and Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. In addition, Dr. Gowen serves on the private company boards of directors of Tamuro Bio and Panorama Therapeutics, Inc., as well as the board of directors of Life Sciences Pennsylvania. Dr. Gowen’s appointment comes as Stephen Squinto, Ph.D., resigns from Passage Bio’s board of directors and as acting head of Research & Development for the company. Steve was a co- founder of Passage Bio who also served as interim chief executive officer at the formation of the company through January 2020.
Passage Bio, Inc. is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on improving the lives of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Its clinical product candidate, PBFT02, seeks to elevate progranulin levels to restore lysosomal function and slow disease progression across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. PBFT02 utilizes an adeno-associated virus capsid to deliver a functional granulin gene, or GRN, encoding progranulin to the brain via intra cisterna magna administration. The lead indication for PBFT02 is frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, caused by progranulin deficiency, or FTD-GRN. Its development programs consist of PBFT02 for the treatment of FTD-GRN, PBFT02 for the treatment of FTD-C9orf72 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and PBFT02 for the treatment of Alzheimerâs disease. Its clinical product candidates include PBGM01, PBKR03 and PBML04. It has one unnamed preclinical research program that explores multiple potential treatment targets for Huntington's disease.
PASSAGE BIO, INC. 
