Stoke Therapeutics appoints Julie Anne Smith to its Board of Directors

– USA, MA –  Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: STOK), a biotechnology company pioneering a new way to treat the underlying cause of genetic diseases by precisely upregulating protein expression, today announced the appointment of Julie Anne Smith to its Board of Directors.

“Julie brings more than two decades of experience in the life sciences industry, with a strong track record of successfully developing and commercializing medicines for rare and inherited diseases. Her expertise in drug development for neurodegenerative diseases will be particularly valued as we advance STK-001 for Dravet syndrome into the clinic later this year,” said CEO Dr Edward Kaye.

Ms. Smith has also been appointed to the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. Ms. Smith will replace Samuel Hall, Ph.D., whose term on the Board of Directors expired.

Dr Edward Kaye added: “We thank Sam for his many important contributions to Stoke from our inception and as we matured through our successful IPO to become a public company prepared to enter the clinic with STK-001, the first potential medicine developed using our TANGO platform. We welcome Julie to the Board and look forward to her insights and contributions.”

About Julie Smith

Ms. Smith currently serves as President and CEO of ESCAPE Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing precisely targeted therapeutics for genetic forms of neurodegenerative disease. She previously served as President and CEO of Nuredis, Inc., a biotechnology company developing small-molecule therapies for nucleotide repeat disorders such as Huntington’s disease. In 2014, Ms. Smith was appointed President and CEO at Raptor Pharmaceuticals, a public biotechnology company with two commercial medicines for orphan diseases, where she served until its acquisition in 2016 (by Horizon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Prior to joining Raptor, Ms. Smith served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Enobia Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Earlier in her career, she held positions of increasing responsibility at Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc, Genzyme, Novazyme and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

Ms. Smith previously served on the board of directors of Audentes Therapeutics, Inc., a genetic medicines company, and as a director on the Health and Emerging Companies Section Governing Boards of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. She currently serves on the board of directors of Exelixis, Inc., a public genomics-based drug discovery company.

“This is an exciting time for Stoke as it transitions to a clinical-stage company and looks to the future,” said Ms. Smith. “I am pleased to work with the Board members and the executive leadership team as they advance their work in Dravet and expand the pipeline to help people who are living with severe genetic diseases and realize the potential of the TANGO platform.”

Ms. Smith holds a B.S. in biological and nutritional sciences from Cornell University.

About Stoke Therapeutics

Stoke Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering a new way to treat the underlying causes of severe genetic diseases by precisely upregulating protein expression to restore target proteins to near-normal levels. Stoke aims to develop the first precision medicine platform to target the underlying cause of a broad spectrum of genetic diseases in which the patient has one healthy copy of a gene and one mutated copy that fails to produce a protein essential to health. These diseases, in which loss of approximately 50% of normal protein expression causes disease, are called autosomal dominant haploinsufficiencies. Stoke is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For more information: https://www.stoketherapeutics.com

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