Arbutus Announces Retirement of Chief Scientific Officer, Michael J. Sofia, PhD, Effective December 31, 2024

WARMINSTER, Pa., May 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq: ABUS) (“Arbutus” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its extensive virology expertise to develop a functional cure for people with chronic hepatitis B virus (cHBV) infection, today announced that after a distinguished 38-year career, the Company’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Michael Sofia, will retire effective December 31, 2024. Dr. Sofia is a globally recognized, Lasker award-winning antiviral drug discovery and development scientist.

“On behalf of the entire Company, I want to thank Mike, a renowned industry veteran, for his tremendous contributions and vision in building Arbutus as a company focused on developing a functional cure for people with chronic HBV,” commented Michael J. McElhaugh, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Arbutus. “I am honored to have worked alongside Mike for so many years and wish him nothing but the best in his well-deserved retirement. We are excited to continue the clinical development of compounds developed by Mike and his colleagues and look forward to continuing our journey.”

Dr. Sofia stated, “I’ve committed my career to the discovery of medicines to improve patients’ lives. It has been personally and professionally gratifying to have made important contributions to curing HCV and to also have laid the groundwork for a potential functional cure for HBV. Co-founding Arbutus, in addition to building and leading this team in developing HBV compounds that have progressed into the clinic, has been one of the high points in my career. I have been fortunate to work with so many talented and dedicated individuals, many of them here at Arbutus, who want to bring transformational medicines to patients who desperately need them. I am confident that Arbutus is uniquely positioned to continue to lead the way in finding a functional cure for HBV and look forward to its future successes.”

About Arbutus

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq: ABUS) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its extensive virology expertise to identify and develop novel therapeutics with distinct mechanisms of action, which can be combined to provide a functional cure for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (cHBV). We believe the key to success in developing a functional cure involves suppressing HBV DNA, reducing surface antigen, and boosting HBV-specific immune responses. Our pipeline of internally developed, proprietary compounds includes an RNAi therapeutic, imdusiran (AB-729), and an oral PD-L1 inhibitor, AB-101. Imdusiran has generated meaningful clinical data demonstrating an impact on both surface antigen reduction and reawakening of the HBV-specific immune response. Imdusiran is currently in three Phase 2a combination clinical trials. AB-101 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial. For more information, visit www.arbutusbio.com.