PRTC's Seaport Adds Biotech Finance Exec as CFO

PureTech Health PLC

05 November 2024

 

5 November 2024

PureTech Health plc

PureTech Founded Entity Seaport Therapeutics Names Lauren White as Chief Financial Officer

Former ImmunoGen CFO will join Seaport to steer capital financing strategy, accounting, FP&A and investor relations

PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, noted that its Founded Entity, Seaport Therapeutics, ("Seaport") a biopharmaceutical company that is advancing novel neuropsychiatric medicines with a proven strategy and team, today announced the appointment of Lauren White as Chief Financial Officer. An accomplished biotech financial executive, Ms. White most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer at ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) prior to its acquisition by AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for $10.1 billion in 2024.

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

Seaport Therapeutics Names Lauren White as Chief Financial Officer

Former ImmunoGen CFO will join Seaport to steer capital financing strategy, accounting, FP&A and investor relations

BOSTON, November 5, 2024 - Seaport Therapeutics ("Seaport or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is advancing novel neuropsychiatric medicines with a proven strategy and team, today announced the appointment of Lauren White as Chief Financial Officer. An accomplished biotech financial executive, Ms. White most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer at ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) prior to its acquisition by AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for $10.1 billion in 2024.

"I am so pleased to welcome Lauren as our CFO as we progress our clinical-stage pipeline of therapeutics for the treatment of anxiety, depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders," said Daphne Zohar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Seaport. "Her strong leadership background in biotech finance will be valuable as we chart an efficient path to delivering these important new medicines to patients."

Ms. White brings over 22 years of corporate finance, accounting, strategic partnering and investor relations expertise to Seaport. As the CFO at ImmunoGen, Ms. White played a key role on the internal deal team, conducting thorough analysis and due diligence during the M&A process with multiple potential buyers, which ultimately led to the successful acquisition of the company by AbbVie. Additionally, Ms. White helped to maximize the successful commercial launch of ELAHERE®, a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Before joining ImmunoGen, Ms. White served as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Principal Accounting Officer at C4 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CCCC), where she was responsible for developing and leading the company's financial, capital, and procurement strategies.

Prior to that, Ms. White held roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis (NYSE: NVS), most recently serving as Global Head of Financial Planning and Analysis for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), where she drove financial strategy and business planning. Before Novartis, Ms. White held strategy and marketing roles with Boston Consulting Group and General Electric. Ms. White received a BS from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

"I'm excited to join the outstanding team at Seaport at this important stage of development," said Ms. White. "I look forward to working with our team and collaborators to leverage our recent financial progress and support Seaport's mission to deliver meaningful medicines that positively impact the lives of patients and their families."

About Seaport Therapeutics

Seaport Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing the development of novel neuropsychiatric medicines in areas of high unmet patient needs. The Company has a proven strategy of advancing clinically validated mechanisms previously held back by limitations that are overcome with its proprietary Glyph technology platform. All the therapeutic candidates in its pipeline of first and best-in-class medicines are based on the Glyph platform, which is uniquely designed to enable oral bioavailability, bypass first-pass metabolism and reduce liver enzyme elevations or hepatotoxicity and other side effects. Seaport is led by an experienced team that invented and advanced important neuropsychiatric medicines and are guided by an extensive network of renowned scientists, clinicians and key opinion leaders. For more information, please visit www.seaporttx.com. 

About PureTech Health

PureTech is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to giving life to new classes of medicine to change the lives of patients with devastating diseases. The Company has created a broad and deep pipeline through its experienced research and development team and its extensive network of scientists, clinicians and industry leaders that is being advanced both internally and through its Founded Entities. PureTech's R&D engine has resulted in the development of 29 therapeutics and therapeutic candidates, including three that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A number of these programs are being advanced by PureTech or its Founded Entities in various indications and stages of clinical development, including registration enabling studies. All of the underlying programs and platforms that resulted in this pipeline of therapeutic candidates were initially identified or discovered and then advanced by the PureTech team through key validation points.

For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) @puretechh.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation those related to Seaport's development plans for its pipeline of therapeutics for the treatment of depression, anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders, potential benefits to patients, and Seaport's and our future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks, uncertainties and other important factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC and in our other 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 and regulatory requirements, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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