Seres Therapeutics Announces Appointment Of Thomas J. Desrosier As Chief Legal Officer And Executive Vice President
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seres Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRB), a leading microbiome therapeutics company, announced today that it has appointed Thomas J. DesRosier as Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President. DesRosier will be responsible for global legal operations, as well as corporate compliance and quality assurance. He will also act as Secretary for Seres’ Leadership Team and its Board of Directors.
“Tom is a highly seasoned, proven biopharma leader who will strengthen our leadership team at a crucial stage in our growth and development,” said Roger Pomerantz, M.D., President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of Seres. “Tom’s broad experience representing and advising biopharmaceutical companies, both large and small, will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline and work to commercialize our first-in-field microbiome therapeutics worldwide. In addition, Tom’s expertise as an intellectual property attorney will be of great value as we continue to further expand Seres’ robust microbiome patent portfolio.”
DesRosier brings more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he served as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, and before that he held the same position at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, where he led the Cubist team during the company’s acquisition by Merck. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, North America of Sanofi, a position he assumed in 2011 after Sanofi acquired Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to his 12-year tenure at Genzyme, DesRosier held senior legal positions at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Genetic Institute, and E.I. DuPont de Nemours. He received his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from the University of Vermont.
“I am thrilled to join Seres as it extends its leadership position in the emerging microbiome therapeutics area,” said DesRosier. “Seres is performing truly innovative research to develop important new therapies for patients with serious diseases, in a whole new area of biomedicine. I look forward to working with their excellent and professional leadership team to bring the first-ever microbiome therapeutics forward to patients.”
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. is a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company developing a novel class of biological drugs that are designed to treat disease by restoring the function of a dysbiotic microbiome, where the natural state of bacterial diversity and function is imbalanced. Seres’ most advanced program, SER-109, has successfully completed a Phase 1b/2 study demonstrating a clinical benefit in patients with recurring Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 study in recurring CDI. The FDA has granted SER-109 Orphan Drug, as well as Breakthrough Therapy, designations. Seres’ second clinical candidate, SER-287, is being evaluated in a Phase 1b study in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC). For more information, please visit www.serestherapeutics.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeresTx.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains 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 statements regarding the future benefits anticipated from Tom DesRosier’s employment, the impact that Seres can have on diseases and the ability to commercialize therapies.
These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: we have incurred significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become profitable; our need for additional funding, which may not be available; our limited operating history; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; the unproven approach to therapeutic intervention of our microbiome therapeutics; the lengthy and expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome; potential delays in enrollment of patients which could affect the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; potential delays in regulatory approval, which would impact the ability to commercialize our product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; any fast track or Breakthrough Therapy designation may not lead to faster development, regulatory approval or marketing approval; our possible inability to receive orphan drug designation should we choose to seek it; our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts; our lack of experience in manufacturing our product candidates; the potential failure of our product candidates to be accepted on the market by the medical community; our lack of experience selling, marketing and distributing products and our lack of internal capability to do so; failure to compete successfully against other drug companies; potential competition from biosimilars; failure to obtain marketing approval internationally; post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market; anti-kickback, fraud, abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations exposing us to potential criminal sanctions; recently enacted or future legislation; compliance with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations; protection of our proprietary technology; protection of the confidentiality of our trade secrets; changes in United States patent law; potential lawsuits for infringement of third-party intellectual property; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; compliance with patent regulations; claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property; claims asserting that we or our employees misappropriated a third-party’s intellectual property or otherwise claiming ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property; adequate protection of our trademarks; ability to attract and retain key executives; managing our growth could result in difficulties; risks associated with international operations; potential system failures; the price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially; our executive officers, directors, and principal stockholders have the ability to control all matters submitted to the stockholders; a significant portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market in the near future; unfavorable or lacking analyst research or reports; and we may be subject to securities class action litigation. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 14, 2016 and our other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Contacts
Seres Therapeutics
IR and PR Contact:
Carlo Tanzi, Ph.D., 617-203-3467
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Ctanzi@serestherapeutics.com
“Tom is a highly seasoned, proven biopharma leader who will strengthen our leadership team at a crucial stage in our growth and development,” said Roger Pomerantz, M.D., President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of Seres. “Tom’s broad experience representing and advising biopharmaceutical companies, both large and small, will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline and work to commercialize our first-in-field microbiome therapeutics worldwide. In addition, Tom’s expertise as an intellectual property attorney will be of great value as we continue to further expand Seres’ robust microbiome patent portfolio.”
DesRosier brings more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he served as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, and before that he held the same position at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, where he led the Cubist team during the company’s acquisition by Merck. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, North America of Sanofi, a position he assumed in 2011 after Sanofi acquired Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to his 12-year tenure at Genzyme, DesRosier held senior legal positions at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Genetic Institute, and E.I. DuPont de Nemours. He received his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from the University of Vermont.
“I am thrilled to join Seres as it extends its leadership position in the emerging microbiome therapeutics area,” said DesRosier. “Seres is performing truly innovative research to develop important new therapies for patients with serious diseases, in a whole new area of biomedicine. I look forward to working with their excellent and professional leadership team to bring the first-ever microbiome therapeutics forward to patients.”
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. is a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company developing a novel class of biological drugs that are designed to treat disease by restoring the function of a dysbiotic microbiome, where the natural state of bacterial diversity and function is imbalanced. Seres’ most advanced program, SER-109, has successfully completed a Phase 1b/2 study demonstrating a clinical benefit in patients with recurring Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 study in recurring CDI. The FDA has granted SER-109 Orphan Drug, as well as Breakthrough Therapy, designations. Seres’ second clinical candidate, SER-287, is being evaluated in a Phase 1b study in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC). For more information, please visit www.serestherapeutics.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeresTx.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains 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 statements regarding the future benefits anticipated from Tom DesRosier’s employment, the impact that Seres can have on diseases and the ability to commercialize therapies.
These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: we have incurred significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become profitable; our need for additional funding, which may not be available; our limited operating history; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; the unproven approach to therapeutic intervention of our microbiome therapeutics; the lengthy and expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome; potential delays in enrollment of patients which could affect the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; potential delays in regulatory approval, which would impact the ability to commercialize our product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; any fast track or Breakthrough Therapy designation may not lead to faster development, regulatory approval or marketing approval; our possible inability to receive orphan drug designation should we choose to seek it; our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts; our lack of experience in manufacturing our product candidates; the potential failure of our product candidates to be accepted on the market by the medical community; our lack of experience selling, marketing and distributing products and our lack of internal capability to do so; failure to compete successfully against other drug companies; potential competition from biosimilars; failure to obtain marketing approval internationally; post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market; anti-kickback, fraud, abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations exposing us to potential criminal sanctions; recently enacted or future legislation; compliance with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations; protection of our proprietary technology; protection of the confidentiality of our trade secrets; changes in United States patent law; potential lawsuits for infringement of third-party intellectual property; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; compliance with patent regulations; claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property; claims asserting that we or our employees misappropriated a third-party’s intellectual property or otherwise claiming ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property; adequate protection of our trademarks; ability to attract and retain key executives; managing our growth could result in difficulties; risks associated with international operations; potential system failures; the price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially; our executive officers, directors, and principal stockholders have the ability to control all matters submitted to the stockholders; a significant portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market in the near future; unfavorable or lacking analyst research or reports; and we may be subject to securities class action litigation. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 14, 2016 and our other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Contacts
Seres Therapeutics
IR and PR Contact:
Carlo Tanzi, Ph.D., 617-203-3467
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Ctanzi@serestherapeutics.com