HuidaGene Therapeutics, a China-based clinical-stage genome-editing company, announced on Wednesday that it has named gene therapy industry veteran, Alvin Luk, PhD, MBA, CCRA, as its co-founder, member of the board of directors and chief executive officer.

Dr Luk has more than 30 years of experience in global drug development, gene/cell therapy medicines, biological drugs, and rare diseases, and participated in 21 approved products at different biotech/biopharma companies, including Spark Therapeutics, Biogen, Bayer HealthCare, Shanghai Henlius, amongst others.

Hui Yang, Ph.D., co-founder, chief scientific advisor, and chairman of the scientific advisory board (SAB) at HuidaGene, said, 'With more than a 30-year career in biotech/biopharma industry, we're delighted to appoint an industry veteran of Alvin's calibre as the company's co-founder and CEO. As more of our innovative medicines progress toward clinical development, Alvin's significant global drug development experience, proven leadership, passion for genetic medicine, and focus on bringing novel modalities to patients globally add tremendous values to HuidaGene. As we enter the next phase, our mission of 'answering the patients' remains the same. My team and I look forward to working closely with Alvin to ensure continuity, build on the progress HuidaGene made, and deliver value to our stakeholders.'