CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Korro Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing single-base RNA editing therapies, today announced the appointment of Ram Aiyar, Ph.D., MBA, as its chief executive officer. Dr. Aiyar brings nearly 20 years of diverse experience across company-building, biotech and pharma to advance Korro’s innovative RNA editing platform to treat previously intractable diseases. He will also serve on the company’s board of directors.

“Ram is a proven leader with a track record of driving growth and advancing programs,” said Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., co-founder and executive chair of Korro. “His broad business experience across the life sciences complements our existing leadership team. We look forward to working closely with him to pioneer the future of RNA editing for medicines.”

“I’m excited and honored to join the exceptional team at Korro,” said Dr. Aiyar. “Our RNA editing platform provides a novel approach to treating diseases by repairing and modulating protein function. I look forward to leading the company with the goal of bringing innovative therapies for patients.”

Dr. Aiyar has a long history of launching and building biotech startups, previously holding a wide range of roles in finance, strategy, product development and venture capital. Most recently, he was a co-founder, chief financial officer and chief business officer at Corvidia Therapeutics, a private Boston-based cardio-renal company. He was instrumental in the company creation and eventually led the transaction resulting in a successful acquisition by Novo Nordisk for $2.1B. Prior to Corvidia, Dr. Aiyar was an entrepreneur-in-residence at BioHealth Innovation (BHI). There he led the creation and the progression of multiple early stage companies across several therapeutic areas. He started his scientific career in research at Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ immunology group, where he was a member of several compound development teams across all stages of development. Dr. Aiyar has also held leadership roles in corporate development, finance and strategy at FlowMetric Inc., Sofinnova Partners and J.P. Morgan Chase. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Drexel University and an MBA in finance and business strategy from INSEAD (France/Singapore).

About Korro Bio, Inc.

Korro is leading the next frontier in RNA therapeutics. Its proprietary platform, OPERA (Oligonucleotide Promoted Editing of RNA), harnesses the body’s own RNA editing system to make a precise edit to a single-base. Korro’s therapeutic approach utilizes synthetic oligonucleotides to repair disease-causing mutations at the RNA level. This approach can also be used to create therapeutically beneficial versions of proteins to improve patient outcomes. Korro’s programs target a broad portfolio of innovative RNA editing therapies in the liver, eye and central nervous system. The company was founded in 2018 by Atlas Venture and is funded by Atlas Venture, New Enterprise Associates, Wu Capital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Cormorant Asset Management, MP Healthcare Venture Management and Alexandria Venture Investments. For more information, visit korrobio.com.