Passage, Gary Romano

Gary Romano was appointed CMO of Passage Bio, a genetics medicine company that is developing AAV-delivered therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases.

Prior to joining Passage, Romano worked as head of clinical development for neurodegenerative disease at Janssen. He also held the role of director of CNS at Merck, known as MSD outside of North America and Mexico, before joining Janssen.

Alongside Romano, Passage also hired Edgar Cale as its general counsel, arriving at the company after serving at GSK as SVP of legal corporate functions.

“Gary and Chip bring deep industry knowledge and drug development expertise that will be pivotal to Passage’s success as we move our lead programs into the clinic over the coming year,” said​ Dr. Stephen Squinto, co-founder and interim CEO at Passage.

The company currently has four lead programs, which are all at the preclinical stage, though clinical trials are expected to begin on two during the first half of 2020.