Spark Therapeutics announced the appointments of Lars Ekman, former president of research and development at Elan, and Vin Milano, former president and CEO of ViroPharma, to its board of directors. Anand Mehra, general partner, Sofinnova Ventures, also joined the Spark board at the close of the company's Series B financing. The appointments continue Spark's ongoing strategy to expand its leadership team as it prepares to complete clinical development of its Phase 3 program to address inherited retinal dystrophies caused by mutations in the RPE65 gene, which has the potential to be the first approved gene therapy in the U.S.