PRTC's resTORbio Adds Senior Biogen Exec to Board

RNS Number : 7860A

PureTech Health PLC

03 January 2018

 

3 January 2018

PureTech Health plc

PureTech Health Affiliate resTORbio Adds Lynne Sullivan, Biogen Senior Vice President, to Board of Directors

PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC), an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to note that resTORbio, an affiliate of PureTech Health, today announced that Lynne Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Finance for Biogen, Inc., has joined the resTORbio board of directors as an independent director. Ms. Sullivan brings finance, accounting and strategy expertise to the resTORbio Board. Since 2008, Ms. Sullivan has held global responsibility for Biogen's Financial Planning & Analysis, Corporate Tax and Corporate Finance groups. Her role includes ownership of long-range planning, capital allocation projects and the financial aspects of Mergers & Acquisitions/Business Development. Prior to her work at Biogen, Ms. Sullivan served as Vice President Tax for EMD Serono and as Vice President of Tax North America at Merck KgaA.

The full text of the announcement from resTORbio is as follows:

resTORbio Appoints Lynne Sullivan to Its Board of Directors

BOSTON, Massachusetts, January 3, 2018 - resTORbio, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel therapeutics for the treatment of aging-related diseases, today announced that Lynne Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Finance for Biogen, Inc. has joined the resTORbio board of directors as an independent director. Ms. Sullivan will serve as the chair of the Audit Committee.

"We are excited to have Lynne join our board of directors at such an important stage in resTORbio's growth," said Chen Schor, President and CEO of resTORbio. "We are fortunate to benefit from Lynne's extensive experience in finance, accounting, financial planning and strategy, as we grow a sustainable company with novel therapeutics for aging-related diseases."

Lynne Sullivan said, "I am enthusiastic to be joining resTORbio's board of directors, and I believe the company's approach is well-suited to address aging-related diseases.  As a first indication, the potential to address the important public health issue of respiratory tract infections in the elderly is significant on many levels."

Ms. Sullivan is currently the Senior Vice President of Finance for Biogen, Inc., where she has worked since 2008. Ms. Sullivan has global responsibility for Biogen's Financial Planning & Analysis, Corporate Tax, and Corporate Finance groups, which includes ownership of long-range planning, capital allocation projects and the financial aspects of Mergers & Acquisitions/Business Development. Previously, Ms. Sullivan was the Vice President of Tax for Biogen, Vice President Tax for EMD Serono and the Vice President of Tax North America at Merck KgaA. She was also a Tax Partner at Arthur Anderson, where she led the North East Region's Tax Consulting Practice for the firm. Ms. Sullivan is on the Board of Solid Biosciences, where she has chaired the Audit Committee since 2015. Ms. Sullivan holds a BS in Accounting from Suffolk University and a MS in Taxation from Bentley College.

About Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) in the Elderly

The decline in immune function that occurs during aging, or immunosenescence, increases susceptibility to a variety of diseases, including respiratory tract infections, or RTIs, that significantly contribute to morbidity and mortality in the elderly. According to the US Census Bureau, RTIs are the fifth leading cause of death in people age 85 and over and the seventh leading cause of death in people age 65 and over. RTIs also result in high healthcare costs for the elderly population and burden the healthcare system. The majority of RTIs are caused by viruses for which there are no FDA-approved therapies. As the elderly represent the fastest growing population in the world, there is significant unmet medical need for innovative therapeutic options to reduce the incidence of RTIs by enhancing the function of the aging immune system. 

About TORC1

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a protein serine/threonine kinase that regulates the process of aging and aging-related diseases and conditions, via two complexes: TORC1 and TORC2. TORC1 inhibition has been found to have many beneficial effects on aging-related diseases and conditions, while TORC2 inhibition has been associated with adverse events including hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia. The TORC1 inhibitor program being developed by resTORbio may, therefore, have therapeutic potential to ameliorate multiple aging-related diseases without the undesirable side effects associated with TORC2 inhibition.

About resTORbio

resTORbio, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel therapeutics for the treatment of aging-related diseases. resTORbio's lead program is targeting the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) pathway to treat aging-related diseases and conditions with an initial focus on conditions caused by immunosenescence, the decline in immune function that occurs during aging. resTORbio's lead product candidate, RTB101, alone or in combination with everolimus, is in a Phase 2b clinical trial to evaluate its potential in reducing the incidence of respiratory tract infections (RTI) in elderly subjects at increased risk of RTI-related morbidity and mortality. resTORbio's lead program is supported by two Phase 2a clinical studies from which promising safety and efficacy signals were observed in almost 500 elderly subjects. resTORbio is pursuing a pragmatic clinical development plan to address areas of key unmet medical need in the aging population. For more information, please visit www.restorbio.com. resTORbio is an affiliate of PureTech Health.

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines targeting serious diseases that result from dysfunctions in the nervous, immune, and gastrointestinal systems (brain-immune-gut or the "BIG" axis), which together represent the adaptive human systems. PureTech Health is at the forefront of understanding and addressing the biological processes and crosstalk associated with the BIG axis. By harnessing this emerging field of human biology, the Company is pioneering new categories of medicine with the potential to have great impact on people with serious diseases. PureTech Health is advancing a rich pipeline of innovative therapies that includes two pivotal stage programmes, multiple human proof-of-concept studies and a number of early clinical and pre-clinical programmes. PureTech's rich research and development pipeline has been advanced in collaboration with some of the world's leading scientific experts, who along with PureTech's team of biopharma pioneers, entrepreneurs and seasoned Board, identify, invent, and clinically de-risk new medicines. With this experienced team pursuing cutting edge science, PureTech Health is building the biopharma company of the future focused on improving and extending the lives of people with serious disease. For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter @puretechh.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to PureTech'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 regulatory filings for PureTech Health. 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 and regulatory requirements, neither PureTech Health nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

	PureTech Health	FTI Consulting
	Allison Mead Talbot [phone] [e-mail]	Ben Atwell, Rob Winder [phone]

 

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