BOSTON and LONDON, Oct. 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orchard Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORTX), a leading commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with serious and life-threatening rare diseases through innovative gene therapies, today announced that the company's president and chief executive officer, Mark Rothera, has been appointed to The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's (ARM) 2020 Board of Directors. In this role and in tandem with the executive committee and board of directors, Mark will oversee the formation and execution of ARM's strategic priorities and focus areas over the coming year.

ARM is the leading international multi-stakeholder advocacy organization for the cell and gene therapy sector, promoting legislative, regulatory, and reimbursement initiatives to facilitate access to life-giving advances in regenerative medicine worldwide.

"This is an incredibly exciting time in medicine, as we work to bring transformative – potentially even curative – new treatments to patients around the world. I'm honored and privileged to join The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's board of directors and look forward to helping to advance the organization's strategic priorities," said Mark Rothera, president and CEO of Orchard Therapeutics.

"Mark's significant rare disease and commercial experience is well-matched to meet the current needs and challenges of the regenerative medicine sector," said Janet Lambert, CEO of ARM. "We are so pleased to welcome him and other new and returning members to the ARM board in 2020."

About Orchard
Orchard Therapeutics is a fully integrated commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with serious and life-threatening rare diseases through innovative gene therapies.

Orchard's portfolio of ex vivo, autologous, hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) based gene therapies includes Strimvelis®, a gammaretroviral vector-based gene therapy and the first such treatment approved by the European Medicines Agency for severe combined immune deficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA-SCID). Additional programs for neurometabolic disorders, primary immune deficiencies and hemoglobinopathies are all based on lentiviral vector-based gene modification of autologous HSCs and include three advanced registrational studies for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), ADA-SCID and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), clinical programs for X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD), transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT) and mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS-I), as well as an extensive preclinical pipeline. Strimvelis, as well as the programs in MLD, WAS and TDT were acquired by Orchard from GSK in April 2018 and originated from a pioneering collaboration between GSK and the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy initiated in 2010.

Orchard currently has offices in the U.K. and the U.S., including London, San Francisco and Boston.

Other risks and uncertainties faced by Orchard include those identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in Orchard's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018 as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 22, 2019, as well as subsequent filings and reports filed with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Orchard's views as of the date hereof, and Orchard does not assume and specifically disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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