SparingVision to Attend the Biotech Showcase During JPMorgan Conference in San Francisco, Announces the Appointment of Stephane Boissel as New Chairman of the Board

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SparingVision, a biotechnology company innovating treatment of blinding inherited retinal diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa and pioneer in the development of a gene-independent treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, attends the Biotech Showcase in San Francisco to meet with investors and strategic partners. The company announces today that Stephane Boissel is joining its Board of Directors as Chairman of the Board. Stephane Boissel is set to replace Laurent Arthaud, a representative of Bpifrance, who will remain a Board Member.

Stephane Boissel is Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy at Sangamo Therapeutics, a gene-editing company listed on the NASDAQ. He was previously CEO of TxCell, a CAR-TReg company that he sold to Sangamo Therapeutics in 2018. Prior to TxCell, Stephane has served as CEO of Genclis a molecular diagnostic company, EVP and CFO of Innate Pharma, NASDAQ listed company and Transgene. He has been member of several boards of directors including Erytech Pharma a NASDAQ listed company and Elsalys Biotech, where he served as Chairman of the Board until 2018. Earlier in his career, Stephane Boissel worked in investment banking for Lazard, where he focused on principal investment in France, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Stephane Boissel is graduated from the IAE Lyon, University of Lyon and Paris-Dauphine University (France) and received his MBA from the University of Chicago.

“I would like to thank Laurent Arthaud who served as Chairman of the Board of SparingVision since our inception in 2016” said Florence Allouche, CEO of SparingVision, “We are pleased to welcome Stephane Boissel as new Chairman of the Board. He is a seasoned biotech professional who brings over 25 years of leadership across general management, corporate finance, strategy and business development, that will be a strong asset as SparingVision is entering in a new phase of its growth.”

“I wish to thank the Board of Directors and Florence Allouche for their trust,” said Stephane Boissel, new Chairman of the Board at SparingVision. “I’m delighted to share my vision and experience with Sparingvision and to join the company at such an exciting time. My first priority will be to help the team to secure the funding that will enable SparingVision to prove in human its unique concept of gene independent therapy in Retinitis Pigmentosa. Ophthalmology remains a field with significant unmet medical need and the SparingVision team is dedicated to rapidly bring its product to commercialization in order to address those needs.”

About SparingVision

SparingVision is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapies for the treatment of blinding inherited retinal diseases. SparingVision is developing SPVN06, a gene-independent treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, the most common inherited retinal degeneration. There is currently no treatment to treat all genetic forms of this rare retinal disease that leads to blindness and affects nearly 2 million worldwide. SparingVision is a spin-off of the Paris Vision Institute. Bpifrance, Foundation Fighting Blindness (US) and Fondation Voir & Entendre invested €15.5 million in the company. SparingVision was laureate and Grand Prize of i-Lab 2017, the French National Innovative Companies Competition. SparingVision has been awarded from the EIC Accelerator program (H2020 SME instrument Phase 2), securing non-dilutive funding of €2.5 million.

Florence Allouche, President CEO of SparingVision is PharmD, MBA from HEC Paris, Associate Professor at University of Paris. She has been honored by the Mercures Entrepreneurs Prize and the Women Trajectory’s Awards from HEC Paris and was elected “Woman of the Year 2017” by the financial magazine “La Tribune”.www.sparingvision.com

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