BRIEF—uniQure makes changes in medical and R&D team

Dutch gene therapy company uniQure today announced the appointment of Ricardo Dolmetsch, as president, research and development, effective September 14, 2020.

Dr Dolmetsch will succeed Dr Sander van Deventer, executive vice president, research and product development.

Dr Robert Gut, will move from his role as chief medical officer after a transition period following the start of Dr Dolmetsch’s employment, and the company plans for Dr Gut to continue to serve on the board of directors.

Dr Dolmetsch joins uniQure from Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), the research arm of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, where he served as the global head of neuroscience since 2013.

He has led the development of treatments for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, including rare genetically defined disorders.

During his tenure, Dr Dolmetsch played an instrumental role in Novartis’ acquisition of AveXis in 2018 and the successful approval of Zolgensma, a commercial gene therapy for patients with spinal muscular atrophy Type 1.