Dr. Vnuk brings substantial business and corporate development leadership experience from Sanofi, Blackstone, and Pfizer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: WVE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health, today announced the appointment of Monika Vnuk, MD, as Chief Business Officer. Dr. Vnuk will join Wave's executive team and lead business development, corporate development, and alliance management.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Vnuk to Wave in a newly created leadership role as we continue to advance our pipeline to the next stages of development. Monika's breadth of experience, including leading global business development teams and strategic asset financing, will be meaningful as we continue to expand the potential of our differentiated RNA medicines platform and support the next phase of Wave's growth," said Paul Bolno, MD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wave Life Sciences.
"Wave has built a highly versatile and differentiated RNA medicines platform with multiple therapeutic modalities translating in the clinic. I am energized to join the company at such an exciting moment, as its science and pipeline programs create broad opportunity to advance value-creating transactions with the ultimate aim of expanding Wave's positive impact on patients. I look forward to partnering with the Wave team to help drive the company's growth and realize the full potential of its platform and pipeline," said Monika Vnuk, MD, Chief Business Officer of Wave Life Sciences.
Prior to joining Wave, Dr. Vnuk served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Partnering and Business Development for Sanofi, where she led global licensing, equity investments, and alliances. Prior to Sanofi, she was Managing Director at Blackstone Life Sciences, a private life sciences investing platform, where she was focused on late-stage product financing transactions. Dr. Vnuk spent more than a decade at Pfizer in senior business development roles, including Vice President, R&D Business Development, where she led the negotiation of the successful partnership with BioNTech directed at the global co-development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Before Pfizer, she worked in investment banking at Bank of America and the life sciences venture capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners. Dr. Vnuk earned an M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine and a B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy from Boston University.
In connection with Dr. Vnuk joining Wave, she received a stock option to purchase 375,000 shares of common stock of Wave. The equity grant was approved by Wave's Compensation Committee and granted to Dr. Vnuk on September 21, 2026, outside of the Wave Life Sciences, Inc. Amended and Restated 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, as an inducement material to Dr. Vnuk's commencing employment with Wave, in accordance with Nasdaq Stock Market Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The option has an exercise price of $4.25 per share, the closing price on the grant date, and vests over four years with 25% vesting on September 21, 2027, and the remainder vesting in equal quarterly installments over the following three years.
About Wave Life Sciences
Wave Life Sciences (Nasdaq: WVE) is a biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health. Wave's RNA medicines platform, PRISM®, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights in human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and common disorders. Its toolkit of RNA-targeting modalities, including RNAi (SpiNA) and RNA editing (AIMers), provides Wave with unmatched capabilities for designing and sustainably delivering candidates that optimally address disease biology. Wave's pipeline is focused on its obesity (WVE-007), alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (WVE-006) and PNPLA3 I148M liver disease (WVE-008) programs, and also includes clinical programs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease, as well as several preclinical programs utilizing the company's versatile RNA medicines platform. Driven by the calling to "Reimagine Possible," Wave is leading the charge toward a world in which human potential is no longer hindered by the burden of disease. Wave is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more information on Wave's science, pipeline and people, please visit www.wavelifesciences.com and follow Wave on X and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, without limitation, statements regarding Dr. Vnuk's leadership and global experience leading business development teams and strategic asset financing, strategic partnerships, licensing, equity investments and alliances; beliefs that Dr. Vnuk's experience will benefit the next phase of Wave's growth; beliefs that Wave's portfolio of RNA medicines is differentiated, best-in-class and potentially transformative; the broad potential of Wave's RNA medicines pipeline and oligonucleotide chemistry and any benefits that may be derived from them. The words "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "continue," "target" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this press release and actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of these risks, uncertainties and important factors, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Wave's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as amended, and in other filings Wave makes with the SEC from time to time. Wave undertakes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.
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InvestorRelations@wavelifesci.com
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