Exhibit 99.1
![LOGO](https://capedge.com/proxy/8-K/0001193125-18-342966/g666644g60s82.jpg)
MIRAGEN THERAPEUTICS ANNOUNCES BOARD OF DIRECTOR EVOLUTION AND APPOINTMENT OF
NEW CHAIRMAN
BOULDER, CO, December 5, 2018 – miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development ofRNA-targeted therapies, today announced the appointment of Jeff Hatfield, a Director since 2017, as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hatfield succeeds Bruce Booth, DPhil., who is stepping down in order to focus on making new investments in the Atlas Venture portfolio. Additionally, current Director Arlene Morris will replace Dr. Booth on the audit committee. The Board will be comprised of seven directors, including sixnon-executive directors.
“Jeff has been a valuable resource for the company and management team since joining the board last year. We look forward to continuing to leverage his biopharmaceutical experience as he takes on the expanded role as Chairman. This transition is timely considering the advancement of our development pipeline, including the initiation of our Phase 2 SOLAR trial for cobomarsen, which we expect to occur in the fourth quarter of 2018” said William S. Marshall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of miRagen Therapeutics. “We are all thankful for Bruce’s decade of service on the miRagen board. He has been a valued leader for the Company sinceco-founding miRagen in 2007.”
“It is exciting to step into the Chairman role at miRagen during a time when the Company has several important milestones on the horizon. I look forward to working closely with the rest of the Board and management team to advance these programs with a pathway towards potential commercialization,” stated Mr. Hatfield.
Dr. Booth stated, “I have enjoyed working with the miRagen team as we advanced the Company from the founding science into preclinical programs and now into a pipeline of microRNA clinical programs that are generating exciting new data. With this emerging portfolio, along with strong leadership in place on both the management team and the Board, it’s time for me to take a step back in order to focus on making new investments out of our most recent venture capital fund. While I am stepping down from the Board of Directors, I will continue to be involved in miRagen as one of its largest shareholders through Atlas Venture.”
Mr. Hatfield is a veteran biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry leader, with over three decades of experience. Currently, Mr. Hatfield is the chief executive officer of Zafgen, Inc. Previously, he served as CEO of Vitae Pharmaceuticals, from 2004 until it was acquired by Allergan in 2016. While at Vitae, Mr. Hatfield advanced a robust pipeline of internally discoveredfirst-in-class compounds, drove initial company growth through a series of high-value pharmaceutical partnering deals, and focused resources on developing the company’s wholly-owned autoimmune disease assets. Prior to working at Vitae, Mr. Hatfield was with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“BMS”) from 1985 to 2004, serving in numerous executive capacities, including senior vice president of Bristol-Myers’s Immunology and Virology divisions. During his time at BMS, he worked directly on several successful commercial launches, including metabolic disease blockbusters GLUCOPHAGE® and PRAVACHOL®. Mr. Hatfield currently serves as a director on the boards of aTyr Pharma, Inc., and InVivo Therapeutics Corp., and has previously served as a director of Ambit Biosciences Corporation before it was acquired by Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd. He is an adjunct professor and is a dean’s advisory board member for Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy. Mr. Hatfield earned a B.S. degree in pharmacy from Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy and an M.B.A. degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
About miRagen Therapeutics, Inc.
miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing proprietaryRNA-targeted therapies with a specific focus on microRNAs and their role in diseases where there is a high unmet medical need. miRagen has three clinical stage product candidates, cobomarsen, remlarsen, andMRG-110. miRagen’s clinical product candidate for the treatment of certain cancers, cobomarsen, is an inhibitor ofmicroRNA-155, which is found at abnormally