bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) today announced that Joseph Vittiglio, JD, has been appointed Chief Business and Legal Officer. Vittiglio brings more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with expertise in licensing, collaborations and mergers and acquisitions, financial transactions, FDA regulations, compliance, manufacturing, and quality operations for organizations at all stages of development.

“Joe’s appointment, including his decades of legal and business development expertise in biotechnology and across the life sciences industry, solidifies and strengthens our management team as we continue our transition into a commercial stage company,” said Andrew Obenshain, chief executive officer, bluebird bio. “Joe also brings deep appreciation for bluebird’s unique culture and shares our commitment to bringing transformational therapies to patients with genetic diseases and their families. We are excited to welcome him to the flock.”

Vittiglio joins bluebird from Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc., where he previously served as Chief Business and Legal Officer. At Finch, Vittiglio guided the company’s initial public offering in 2021, which raised $130.8 million in capital, and led the company’s legal, business development, and quality teams. Prior to joining Finch, he was the General Counsel and Chief Business Officer for AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he led the company’s legal and business development initiatives, including oversight of the successful sale of the company to private equity investors, multiple out-licensing and partnership collaborations, and multiple therapeutic product launches.

About bluebird bio, Inc.

bluebird bio is pursuing curative gene therapies to give patients and their families more bluebird days.

With a dedicated focus on severe genetic diseases, bluebird has industry-leading programs for sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia and cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy and is advancing research to apply new technologies to these and other diseases. We custom design each of our therapies to address the underlying cause of disease and have developed in-depth and effective analytical methods to understand the safety of our lentiviral vector technologies and drive the field of gene therapy forward.

Founded in 2010, bluebird has the largest and deepest ex-vivo gene therapy data set in the world—setting the standard for the industry. Today, bluebird continues to forge new paths, combining our real-world experience with a deep commitment to patient communities and a people-centric culture that attracts and grows a diverse flock of dedicated birds.

For more information, visit bluebirdbio.com or follow us on social media at @bluebirdbio, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

bluebird bio is a trademark of bluebird bio, Inc.

bluebird bio Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations and projections about the Company’s future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond the Company’s control and could cause the Company’s future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect bluebird bio’s business, particularly those identified in the risk factors discussion in bluebird bio’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by the Company’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that the Company may not realize expected cost savings from the restructuring, including the anticipated decrease in operational expenses, at the levels the Company expects; the Company may encounter additional delays in the development of its programs, including the imposition of new clinical holds or delays in resolving existing clinical holds, that may impact the Company’s ability to meet its expected timelines and increase its costs; the internal and external costs required for the Company’s ongoing and planned activities, and the resulting impact on expense and use of cash, may be higher than expected which may cause the Company to use cash more quickly than it expects or change or curtail some of its plans or both; the Company’s expectations as to expenses, cash usage and cash needs may prove not to be correct for other reasons such as changes in plans or actual events being different than the Company’s assumptions; the risk that the efficacy and safety results from the Company’s prior and ongoing clinical trials will not continue or be seen in additional patients treated with the Company’s product candidates; the risk that additional insertional oncogenic or other reportable events associated with lentiviral vector, drug product, or myeloablation will be discovered or reported over time; the risk that the Company’s eli-cel, beti-cel and lovo-cel programs may be subject to further delays in their development, including but not limited to the imposition of new clinical holds; the risk that lovo-cel may not be approved within the priority review timeframe or at all; and the risk that any one or more of the Company’s products and product candidates, including eli-cel, beti-cel or lovo-cel, will not be successfully developed, approved or commercialized. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, bluebird bio undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.