Names Scientific Advisory Board and Expands Team

RNS Number : 2911H

PureTech Health PLC

30 November 2015

 

PureTech Names Scientific Advisory Board and Expands Senior Team

Boston, Massachusetts, November 30, 2015 - PureTech Health plc ("PureTech" or the "Company", LSE: PRTC), a cross-disciplinary healthcare company developing novel medicines to tackle fundamental healthcare needs in disruptive ways, today announced the launch of a Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB") of distinguished scientists and physicians, and the expansion of PureTech's senior team.

In addition to the over 50 leading scientists and clinicians in PureTech's advisory network, the SAB will work closely with PureTech's Board and executive team to identify new areas of focus and to prioritize themes and new company concepts.

The SAB is chaired by H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., PureTech Board Advisor, Nobel Laureate and David H. Koch Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Its initial members include:  

·    Dennis A. Ausiello, M.D., Chief Emeritus of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School;

·    James J. Collins, Ph.D., Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT;

·    Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D., Ludwig Professor and Chair, Department of Radiology and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford University;

·    Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., PureTech Board member,  Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and

·    Robert Langer, Sc.D., PureTech Co-founder and Board member, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT.

Additional background on each member is found below.

Additionally, PureTech named Harry L. Leider, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Walgreens Co., as a Senior Advisor to the Company.

PureTech is also expanding its senior team with the addition of Joseph B. Bolen Ph.D., who has been appointed Entrepreneur-In-Residence ("EIR"). Dr. Bolen is the former President of Research and Development at Moderna Therapeutics and former Chief Scientific Officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the Company appointed Vincent Hennemand, former Principal in Sanofi's corporate R&D venture group, as Vice President of Company Development and Operations.

"The Scientific Advisory Board members, all leaders in their respective fields, share PureTech's vision of addressing major healthcare problems in unexpected ways," said Daphne Zohar, Chief Executive Officer of PureTech. "The distinguished members of our Scientific Advisory Board will work closely with PureTech's world-class scientific and clinical advisory network and our team. We are excited to launch this SAB and to welcome our new advisors and senior team members."

Dr. Joe Bolen has more than 30 years of industry and research experience and has been at the forefront of cancer and immunology research. He began his career at the NIH, where he contributed to the discovery of a class of proteins known as tyrosine kinase oncogenes as key regulators of the immune system. Dr. Bolen most recently oversaw all aspects of research and development for Moderna Therapeutics as President and Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Global Head of Oncology Research at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. Prior to joining Millennium in 1999, Dr. Bolen held senior R&D positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel, Schering-Plough, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.  As an EIR, Dr. Bolen will work with PureTech's company creation team to identify and pursue promising new medicines.

Mr. Hennemand, joining PureTech as Vice President of Company Development and Operations, was previously a Principal in Sanofi's corporate R&D venture group where he was responsible for developing and managing new investment opportunities including Myokardia, Voyager Therapeutics, WarpDrive Bio and Portal Instruments. Prior, Mr. Hennemand was the Chief of Staff to the President of Global R&D and the General Secretary for the Corporate Scientific Advisory Committee (SDSAC), which investigates scientific proposals and projects of potential interest to Sanofi. He has an M.Sc. in Engineering from Ecole Normal Superieure Arts et Metiers in France and an MBA (2015) from MIT where he received a Faris Foundation and Martin Trust Center scholarship as Healthcare Sector Practice Leader for the Institute.

Dr. Harry Leider, named a Senior Advisor to PureTech, is Chief Medical Officer and Group Vice President at Walgreens Co. Dr. Leider has received national recognition for his innovative approach to developing care management programs for populations with chronic illness and served on the executive teams of multiple payor and population health companies. Dr. Leider obtained a BA from Pennsylvania State University, earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and earned his MBA from the University of Washington. In addition to Internal Medicine, he is board certified in Medical Management and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Physician Executives. He served for six years as an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School as well as on the faculty of the John's Hopkins Carey School of Business. Dr. Leider will be advising the Company on commercialization and reimbursement strategies for PureTech's advanced programs, three of which will have pivotal study read-outs over the next 18 months.

PureTech Health's Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Robert Langer, PureTech Co-founder, Board member and Scientific Advisory Board member and the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT said, "These are exceptionally talented scientists, clinicians and pioneering researchers who are world leaders in areas like systems and synthetic biology, oncology, metabolism, diagnostics/imaging, clinical research and personalized medicine. We are thrilled to launch this Scientific Advisory Board under the brilliant leadership of Bob Horvitz."

H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., Chair

Dr. Horvitz is a Board Advisor and the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of PureTech. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at MIT and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Horvitz is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is Co-founder of multiple life science companies and has received numerous awards, including the U.S. National Academy of Science Award in Molecular Biology and the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health. Dr. Horvitz is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Science.

Dennis A. Ausiello, M.D.

Dr. Dennis Ausiello is the Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is currently the Director of the Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health (CATCH). Dr. Ausiello was the Chief of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and former Chief Scientific Officer of Partners Healthcare.  Dr. Ausiello has made substantial contributions to the knowledge of epithelial biology in the areas of membrane protein trafficking, ion channel regulation and signal transduction.  He has published numerous articles, book chapters and textbooks and served as an editor of Cecil's Textbook of Medicine. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and as an advisor to several biotech companies.

James J. Collins, Ph.D.

Dr. Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science at MIT, as well as an Institute Member of the Broad Institute and a Core Founding Faculty member of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Dr. Collins is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is a Co-founder of multiple biotech companies and has received numerous awards, including a MacArthur "Genius" Award and an NIH Director's Pioneer Award.

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Gambhir is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor in Cancer Research, Chairman of the Department of Radiology, Head of Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford University. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2015 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, The Hounsfield Medal, The Tesla Medal, Paul C. Aebersold Award, and the George Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award.  Dr. Gambhir is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He has co-founded several biotechnology companies and serves as an advisor to several imaging companies.

Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D.

Dr. Kucherlapati is a Non-Executive Director at PureTech and was a founder and formerly a Board member of Abgenix (acquired by Amgen for $2.2B), and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Takeda for $8.8B), and is currently the Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and was the first Scientific Director of the Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has chaired numerous NIH committees and served on the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. He is also a member of the Cancer Genome Atlas project of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

Robert Langer, Sc.D.

Dr. Langer is a Co-founder and Non-Executive Director at PureTech. He is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT (there are 11 Institute Professors at MIT; being an Institute Professor is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member).  Dr. Langer has written over 1,300 articles.  He also has over 1,080 patents worldwide.  Dr. Langer's patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 300 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies.  He is the most cited engineer in history and has received numerous awards, including the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the 2006 United States National Medal of Science, the Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2002, the world's most prestigious engineering prize, and the 2012 Priestley Medal, the highest award of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Langer has been elected to all three United States National Academies.

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a cross-disciplinary healthcare company, developing innovative products that could improve the lives of billions of patients. PureTech has a pipeline of 12 operating companies, seven of which are "growth stage" with external validation including strategic partnerships, outside funding, proof-of-concept or peer review in prestigious scientific journals. PureTech also has a pipeline of ten "concept phase" initiatives resulting from review of more than 650 ideas annually. PureTech is focused on areas including immune and inflammatory disorders; cognitive and psychiatric disorders; diabetes and obesity; oncology; and infectious diseases, and has over 110 patents and patent applications. PureTech's leading team and board, along with an advisory network of more than 50 expert founder-scientists and advisors across multiple disciplines, gives PureTech access to potentially ground-breaking science and technological innovation. For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com and connect with us on Twitter.

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Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the company's regulatory filings. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Enquiries:

PureTech Julie DiCarlo, Senior Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations	[phone]
FTI Consulting (Communications adviser to PureTech) Ben Atwell Matthew Cole	[phone]

 

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