Team

A world-class management team experienced in gene therapy, rare disease drug development and commercialization, and biologics manufacturing.

Andrew Krivoshik, M.D., Ph.D. is President and Head of Development, Northbrook, IL, providing strategic direction and leadership across all global therapeutic area development programs.

Andy has most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Development Therapeutic Areas. He has experience in global clinical development, biomarker strategy, translational medicine, product and patient safety, and medical affairs. Prior to joining Astellas, he was a Senior Medical Director at Abbott and was a graduate of the Abbott Physician Development Program.

As a pharmaceutical physician, he has led and managed global multidisciplinary cross-functional teams, successfully implemented novel and innovative clinical trial designs, and functioned as a subject matter expert and primary author of clinical protocols, investigator brochures and regulatory submissions spanning the life cycle of clinical development including Investigational New Drug and New Drug Application/Marketing Authorization Application filings.

Dr. Krivoshik holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering with honors from Princeton University, an M.D. from the University of Illinois (UIC) College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in biophysics and computational biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his clinical internship and residency training in pediatric and adolescent medicine at Mayo Clinic, and clinical pediatric hematology and oncology fellowship training at Duke University. He is licensed in multiple jurisdictions as both a physician and professional engineer and has served as an invited speaker and session chair at international scientific congresses.

Mathew Pletcher, Ph.D. is Division Head of Gene Therapy Research & Technical Operations for Astellas Gene Therapies. He is responsible for advancing the company’s pipeline from discovery through to IND-enabling preclinical development and for all Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Facilities & Engineering, and Process & Analytical Development functions.

Prior to joining Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) in July 2020, Mr. Pletcher worked at Roche Pharma where he was Head of Rare Diseases Research and Early Development, and prior to that, Head of Discovery. Previously, he served as Acting Chief Scientific Officer at Autism Speaks and earlier as Vice President, Head of Genomic Sciences. He also spent eight years working in Pfizer’s Rare Diseases Research Unit in various scientific roles of increasing responsibility including Director, Rare Diseases Research Unit.

Mr. Pletcher also founded and leads a non-profit foundation, Fund for Sight, supporting research and resources for families and children impacted by the genetic disease his daughter inherited called Leber Congenital Amaurosis. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Duquesne University and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics form Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Amy Pott is Division Head of Gene Therapy, Commercial for Astellas Gene Therapies, and is responsible for leading commercialization of our Gene Therapy business. She joined Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) in January 2021 and brings an impressive amount of experience and expertise developing and launching rare disease therapies.

Ms. Pott joined Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) from Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (SOBI), where she was President, North America, and oversaw rare disease/specialty programs such as Synagis for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV); Kineret for Rheumatoid Arthritis; and Gamifant for Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Prior to joining SOBI, Ms. Pott was Group Vice President, US Franchise Head, Internal Medicine & Oncology at Shire, where she was responsible for four rare disease businesses, including the GI, Endo, LSD and Oncology Businesses. She joined Shire when the company acquired Baxalta, and stayed on to build the US commercial operations group handling seven US franchises.

Ms. Pott earned her B.A. in history from the University of Bristol and her M.S. in European Policy & International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Richard Wilson is currently the Senior Vice President, Primary Focus Lead of Genetic Regulation at Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics). He joined Audentes in April 2020 as Vice President, Program Management and is currently responsible for Gene Therapy program leadership and project management across the Center of Excellence.

Richard has over 25 years of experience in research, development, and commercialization of small molecules, biological and gene therapies. Prior to Audentes, he served as Executive Director, Product Portfolio Development at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. where he held a number of roles including portfolio Core Team leader for BioMarin’s PKU franchise, overseeing the approval and global launch of Palynziq, the first enzyme substitution therapy for PKU.

Prior to BioMarin, Richard held positions in GlaxoWellcome, BioChem Pharma, Theravance and Innoviva, where he was involved in the development and commercialization of a range of products in COPD and Asthma – Relvar/Breo Ellipta, Anoro Ellipta, and Trelegy Ellipta, and also in the identification of a nebulized delivery strategy for revefenacin (Yupelri). He has also led R&D programs in anti-infective, cardiovascular, rheumatology, and urology disease areas.

Richard holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Manchester and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he serves on the Board of Directors for UC Berkeley Executive Education.

Lovena D. Chaput, SVP, Americas

Lovena D. Chaput is Senior Vice President, Americas at Astellas Gene Therapies.  She joined the Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) in December 2019 as Senior Vice President of Global Market Access. She brings more than 30 years of healthcare leadership experience focused on launching and commercializing treatments for rare and orphan diseases in startup organizations. Ms. Chaput is responsible for executing the global market access strategy for the company’s growing portfolio of gene therapy product candidates, and for building the commercial market access organization, including distribution, patient services and market access teams.

Ms. Chaput joined Astellas Gene Therapies from AveXis, a Novartis company, where she served as VP, Market Access and Reimbursement. During her tenure with AveXis she led the highly successful launch of ZOLGENSMA®, the first gene therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Prior to AveXis, Ms. Chaput was with Raptor Pharmaceuticals where she was the Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Americas & Asia Pacific. While at Raptor, she led the U.S. Market Access strategy and launch of Procysbi®, a drug for the treatment of nephropathic cystinosis.

Previously, Ms. Chaput designed and built the commercial organization for Amylin Pharmaceuticals. During her tenure at Amylin she held various strategic and leadership roles in sales, marketing, trade and distribution, and market access, launching several first in class products, including Symlin®, Byetta® and BYDUREON®. Ms. Chaput also served in various commercial roles at Raptor, Amylin, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Syntex Laboratories, Inc. Ms. Chaput holds a B.S. in Biology from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Chris Lorenz, SVP, Technical Operations

Chris Lorenz is Senior Vice President of Technical Operations for Astellas Gene Therapies, and is responsible for the process development, manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, and facilities functions of our Gene Therapy operations. Chris joined Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) in February 2016 to start up our manufacturing and warehouse functions in South San Francisco, and has taken on increasing levels of responsibility during his tenure at the company.

Mr. Lorenz joined Astellas Gene Therapies from Grifols Diagnostics Solutions (formerly Novartis Diagnostics) where he held various positions in their Manufacturing and Process Engineering functions. Prior to Grifols, he was at Genentech in South San Francisco where he held positions in their Process Development and Manufacturing Science & Technology organizations.

Mr. Lorenz earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

Jason Schwartz, VP, Medical Affairs

Jason Schwartz, M.D., is the Vice President of Medical Affairs for Astellas Gene Therapies and is responsible for leading development and execution of the Medical Affairs strategy. He joined Astellas Gene Therapies in June 2022 after helping to overcome several mission-critical challenges in both industry and academia.

Dr. Schwartz is a multi-organ transplant surgeon by training, joining Astellas 8 years ago from academic practice where he was associate professor and head of the kidney transplant program at the University of Texas, Southwestern. Prior to that, he co-founded the multi-organ transplant and liver oncology programs at the University of Utah, where he was also director of translational research. At Astellas, he has held positions of increasing responsibility, first leading the U.S. Medical Affairs activities for transplant / immunology and then helping to establish and grow the global Early Stage Medical Affairs function, leading teams that seek to optimize the value of Astellas products early in their life cycle. He has an extensive clinical background in the surgical and medical management of end-organ disease and was involved in some of the earliest efforts to transplant across HLA and ABO barriers. Over the years, his research interests have focused on liver and kidney pathologies, hepatic and biliary malignancies, and immunosuppressive management.

Dr. Schwartz earned his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and his MD from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. After completing his five year general surgery training at the University of Texas, Southwestern, he completed a two year NIH-sponsored research fellowship in burns, trauma, and critical care. This was followed by 2-years of additional training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, where as a surgical transplant fellow, he earned certification in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation, as well as that of living donation.