PureTech Expands Scientific Advisory Board and Appoints New Senior Advisors
Edward Boyden, David A. Edwards, Donald E. Ingber, Sachin H. Jain and Robert J. Perez Join Company's Advisory Group of Over 50 Leading Scientists and Clinicians
Boston, Massachusetts, January 27, 2016 - 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 it has expanded its Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB") and appointed new Senior Advisors to the Company.
Edward Boyden, Ph.D., optogenetics pioneer, professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute, has been appointed to PureTech's SAB, David A. Edwards, Ph.D., the Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Sachin H. Jain, M.D., Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer of CareMore Health and former Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Merck, and Robert J. Perez, former Chief Executive Officer of Cubist, have been appointed Senior Advisors to the Company.
"Our new advisors are visionaries in their fields and bring world-class experience to PureTech's growing advisory network of distinguished scientists and clinicians," said Daphne Zohar, Chief Executive Officer of PureTech Health. "We are delighted to welcome them to our team, and look forward to their guidance as we pursue innovations in science and technology that have the potential to change how we address today's healthcare challenges."
Newly Appointed PureTech Advisors
Dr. Boyden will join PureTech as a member of the Company's SAB. He is a professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which has invented a suite of "optogenetic" tools that are now in use by thousands of research groups around the world for activating and silencing neurons with light. Dr. Boyden received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award (2015), the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences (2015), the Schuetze Prize (2014), the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (2013), the Grete Lundbeck Brain Prize (2013), the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2013), the NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (twice, 2012 and 2013) and the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (2011). He was also named to the World Economic Forum Young Scientist list (2013), the Wired Smart List "50 People Who Will Change the World" (2012), the Technology Review World's "Top 35 Innovators under Age 35" list (2006), and his work was included in Nature Methods "Method of the Year" in 2010. Dr. Boyden received his Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow and received degrees in electrical engineering, computer science and physics from MIT. He has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents, and articles and has given over 300 invited talks on his group's work.
Dr. Edwards is the Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Founding Core Faculty Member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Founder of the creative center Le Laboratoire in Paris, France and Cambridge, Massachusetts and founder of the future-of-food restaurant Café ArtScience in Cambridge. Dr. Edwards is the founder of the drug and vaccine delivery companies Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), sold to Alkermes, Pulmatrix and Medicine in Need. He has also founded multiple companies aimed at the interface of multiple disciplines, including Vapor Communications focused on digitising scent and edible packaging company Quantum Designs. Dr. Edwards is a member of the American and French National Academies of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. He has received numerous national and international awards for his creative work. In 2008, he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.
Dr. Ingber is the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Ingber's work has catalysed the convergence of far-reaching disciplines not previously connected, ranging from biology, medicine, engineering, computer science and physics to art, architecture and design, and his efforts contributed to the emergence of the field of biologically inspired engineering. In addition, Dr. Ingber has made major contributions to understanding cell structure, mechanobiology, tissue engineering, tumour angiogenesis, systems biology, nanobiotechnology, medical devices and translational medicine. He has received numerous honors across a broad range of disciplines, including the Holst Medal, Department of Defense Breast Cancer Innovator Award, Pritzker Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society, Rous-Whipple Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of In Vitro Biology, Leading Edge Award from the Society of Toxicology, NC3Rs Award and the 2015 Design of the Year Award. Dr. Ingber is also an honorary member of the Society of Toxicology and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, National Academy of Inventors and the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine). He has more than 125 patents and founded multiple companies, including Emulate, Inc. and Opsonix, Inc. Dr. Ingber received his B.A., M.A., M.Phil., M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale University.
Dr. Jain is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer at CareMore Health System, an innovative health plan and care delivery system subsidiary of Anthem, Inc. with $1.2 billion revenue and over 100,000 members. In this role, he has operational responsibility for 700 clinical and network staff. He is charged with developing and leading a multi-year strategy to expand next-generation Medicare and Medicaid care management/care delivery model nationally. Prior to joining CareMore, Dr. Jain was Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Merck and Co., where he developed global partnerships to leverage health data to improve patient health. He also served as an attending hospitalist physician at the Boston VA-Boston Medical Center and lecturer in healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School. From 2009-2011, Dr. Jain was a senior advisor to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and helped to launch the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). He also served as special assistant to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), supporting the agency's implementation of the HITECH Provisions of the Recovery Act and meaningful use. Dr. Jain graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in government, and continued on to earn his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is board certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the Elsevier journal, Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation.
Mr. Perez is the former Chief Executive Officer of Cubist (acquired by Merck for $9.5 billion), and has nearly 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry with a focus on commercialising novel medicines. Prior to his role as CEO, Mr. Perez served in various leadership roles at Cubist, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure, Mr. Perez built the company's novel commercial infrastructure and led the launch of its blockbuster antibiotic, Cubicin®. Prior to joining Cubist, he served as Vice President of Biogen, Inc.'s CNS Business Unit where he was responsible for commercial leadership of an $800 million neurology business unit and before that, held positions of increasing responsibility within the commercial organisation. He also held various sales and marketing positions at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Perez is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc., the Board of Advisors of the Citizen School of Massachusetts and a Board member of the Biomedical Science Careers Program aimed at increasing the quality of a diverse workforce for the life sciences. Mr. Perez received a B.S. in business from California State University, Los Angeles, and an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
About PureTech's Scientific Advisory Board
In addition to its group of esteemed Senior Advisors who are working with PureTech on specific projects or products, PureTech recently established a SAB that is focused on identifying "what's next" for PureTech. This group is chaired by H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., PureTech Board Advisor and SAB Chair, Nobel Laureate and David H. Koch Professor at MIT. Drs. Horvitz and Boyden are joined on the SAB by 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 and 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.
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 programs, seven of which are "growth stage" with external validation including strategic partnerships, outside funding, proof-of-concept or peer review in prestigious scientific journals. Three of PureTech's advanced programs will have pivotal or registration study readouts in the next two years. 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.
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.
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Contact:
PureTech Julie DiCarlo, Senior Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations |
+1 617 226 4819 |
FTI Consulting (Communications adviser to PureTech) Ben Atwell Matthew Cole |
+44 (0) 20 3727 1000 |
