OvaScience Announces Senior Management Changes and Appointments
– Arthur Tzianabos, Ph.D., Departs as President and Chief Scientific Officer;
James D. Luterman, Ph.D., Appointed Senior Vice President, Research & Development –
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
OvaScienceSM (OVAS), a global fertility company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of new treatment options, today announced that Arthur Tzianabos, Ph.D., has stepped down as President and Chief Scientific Officer to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer at an early stage biotechnology company. In order to facilitate an orderly transition, Dr. Tzianabos will consult for the Company until the end of the year. James D. Luterman, Ph.D., OvaScience’s Vice President, Research & Development, has been appointed the role of Senior Vice President, Research & Development and will report directly to Michelle Dipp, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of OvaScience.
“We thank Arthur for his contributions to OvaScience that resulted in the design and progression of three important treatments for women and families facing infertility, including the AUGMENT treatment, which is commercially available in select international regions,” said Michelle Dipp, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of OvaScience. “Looking ahead, OvaScience is focused on building out our commercial infrastructure to support the introduction of our treatments to market. With the recent appointments of Chief Executive Officer-elect Dr. Harald Stock and Chief Operating Officer Paul Chapman, we are well positioned to support this effort and to expand patient access to our important treatments.”
Dr. Dipp commented further, “We are pleased to recognize Jim’s strong leadership with this appointment. He has played a fundamental role in leading OvaScience’s research and development operations over the past two years.”
James D. Luterman, Ph.D., has been with OvaScience since January 2014 and most recently has served as Vice President, Research & Development. He brings over 20 years of industry experience to the Company. Prior to OvaScience, Dr. Luterman served in various positions at Shire Human Genetic Therapies, including Early Development Team Leader and Senior Director Strategic Planning and Program Management. He also worked at Biogen and Decision Resources Group. He holds a B.A. in Biology and Psychology from Bucknell University and a Ph.D. in Behavioral and Neural Sciences from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dr. Luterman was a postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
About OvaScience
OvaScience (OVAS) is a global fertility company dedicated to improving treatment options for women around the world. OvaScience is discovering, developing and commercializing new fertility treatments because we believe women deserve more options. Each OvaScience treatment is based on the Company’s proprietary technology platform that leverages the breakthrough discovery of egg precursor (EggPCSM) cells – immature egg cells found inside the protective ovarian lining. The AUGMENTSM treatment, a fertility option specifically designed to improve egg health, is available in certain IVF clinics in select international regions. OvaScience has commenced a non-commercial preceptorship training program with the OvaPrimeSM treatment, which could increase a woman’s egg reserve, and is developing the OvaTureSM treatment, a potential next-generation IVF treatment that could help a woman produce healthy, young, fertilizable eggs without hormone injections. OvaScience treatments are not available in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.ovascience.com and www.augmenttreatment.com and connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements about the Company’s plans for the AUGMENT treatment, OvaPrime treatment and OvaTure treatment, including statements relating to building out our commercial infrastructure and expanding patient access to our treatments. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including risks related to: the possibility that international IVF clinics that we work with may determine not to provide or continue providing the AUGMENT treatment or OvaPrime treatment, or to delay providing such treatments based on clinical efficacy, safety or commercial, logistic, regulatory or other reasons; the science underlying our treatments (including the AUGMENT, OvaPrime and OvaTure treatments), which is unproven; our ability to obtain regulatory approval or licenses where necessary for our treatments; our ability to develop our treatments on the timelines we expect, if at all; our ability to commercialize our treatments, on the timelines we expect, if at all; as well as those risks more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and/or Annual Report on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect our current views with respect to future events. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our view as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.
###
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160331005330/en/
- Health Care Industry
- Chief Executive Officer
- Research & Development
