Alia Therapeutics names Letizia Goretti as Chief Executive Officer

MILAN, May 5, 2023 — Alia Therapeutics, a Trento-based start-up specializing in innovative treatments for rare genetic diseases through next-generation gene editing technology, announced the appointment of Letizia Goretti as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Director, effective immediately.

Letizia, who is joining Alia from Johnson & Johnson, has more than 25 years of international experience in life sciences. She brings a broad background in strategic, operational, R&D, and commercial activities across the sector, and a track record of building strong partnerships and delivering sustainable value to stakeholders and patients.

In her previous role as Senior Director, Transactions and Alliances at the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre in London, she led strategic partnering efforts with academia, entrepreneurs, industries, governmental organizations, and charities, focusing on the development and adoption of genomics and digital capabilities for discovery and development.

"Letizia’s appointment as CEO marks an important step forward for Alia," said Paola Pozzi, a Partner at Sofinnova Partners. "Her all-round experience and leadership skills, combined with her drive to create value through innovation, will be a great catalyst to accelerate Alia’s growth."

“I am fascinated by the opportunity to work with a team of cutting-edge scientists on a quest to develop its innovative platform for CRISPR-based medicine,” Letizia said. “We are enabling novel gene editing strategies designed to overcome current limitations and bring more therapies to patients with underserved and currently untreatable diseases and conditions.”

"Our Board of Directors is thrilled to appoint a leader like Letizia,” said Silvano Spinelli, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "With her broad background and track record of value creation, she is well positioned to guide Alia into a bright future."

Letizia holds a M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Perugia. She started her career at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Italy before moving to The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, where she held several roles with increasing responsibilities and international scope in business development, CMC development, commercial life cycle management and global new product launches.

In April, Alia announced a €4.4 million seed financing extension led by Sofinnova Partners through the Sofinnova Telethon Fund. Other investors included Indaco Bio and a group of Italian investors brought together by Banor SIM and Banca Profilo.

About Alia Therapeutics

Alia Therapeutics is an Italian biotech start-up whose mission is to develop innovative treatments for incurable genetic diseases using gene editing technology. The company was founded in October 2018 by Anna Cereseto and a group of researchers from CIBIO, the biotech department of the University of Trento, who discovered the core CRISPR technologies exploited by the start-up. Read more at aliatherapeutics.com.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: sofinnovapartners.com.

For more information about Sofinnova Telethon, visit https://sofinnovapartners.com/strategy/telethon

Contact

Letizia Goretti

CEO, Alia Therapeutics

info@aliatx.com