CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VYGR), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced it has promoted Jeff Goater, former senior vice president of finance and business development, to chief financial officer. In this new role, Mr. Goater will be responsible for overseeing the company’s financial strategy and planning, investor and public relations, corporate operations and business development.

“Jeff’s exceptional leadership has been and will continue to be instrumental in identifying strategic growth opportunities for Voyager,” said Steven Paul, M.D. president and CEO of Voyager Therapeutics. “Since the company’s inception in 2014, Jeff has been a highly regarded member of the leadership team and this promotion is a reflection of his significant contributions to the company’s growth, including Voyager’s successful initial public offering in November 2015.”

Mr. Goater has more than 15 years of business development and financial experience in the biotech industry. He has served in several executive roles since Voyager’s launch in 2014, including senior vice president of finance and business development and vice president of business development. Prior to Voyager, Mr. Goater spent nearly a decade on Wall Street, most recently as a managing director at Evercore Partners, focused on strategic advisory in the life sciences sector. While at Evercore, he advised on more than $100 billion in M&A and licensing transactions. Mr. Goater began his Wall Street career as an equity research analyst at Cowen and Company, covering the biopharmaceutical sector. Prior to Cowen, he worked in biotech business development and began his career as a research scientist in the fields of musculoskeletal biology and gene therapy. Mr. Goater holds a B.A. in biology, an M.S. in pathology/molecular medicine, an M.S. in microbiology/immunology and an M.B.A., all from the University of Rochester.

About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the central nervous system. Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing and dosing and delivery techniques. The company’s pipeline is focused on severe CNS diseases in need of effective new therapies, including advanced Parkinson’s disease, a monogenic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Friedreich’s ataxia, Huntington’s disease and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Voyager has broad strategic collaborations with Genzyme Corporation, a Sanofi company, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Founded by scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy, expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com. Follow Voyager on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities law. The use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” or “continue,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, all statements Voyager makes regarding the initiation, timing, progress and results of its preclinical programs and clinical trials and its research and development programs, its ability to advance its AAV-based gene therapies into, and successfully complete, clinical trials, its ability to continue to develop its product engine, its ability to add new programs to its pipeline, and the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, are forward looking. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by Voyager’s management that, although Voyager believes to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that Voyager expected. These statements are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties that are described in Voyager’s final prospectus for its initial public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Voyager undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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