Seres Therapeutics Strengthens Board of Directors with Appointment of Willard Dere, M.D., Former Amgen Chief Medical Officer
July 10 2017 - 7:05AM
Business Wire
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRB) today announced the
appointment of Willard Dere, M.D., a seasoned industry executive,
to its Board of Directors.
Dr. Dere brings to Seres more than two decades of scientific,
clinical, and strategic biopharmaceutical experience. He is
currently Professor of Internal Medicine, Executive Director of
Personalized Health, and Co-director of the Center for Clinical and
Translational Sciences at the University of Utah Health Sciences
Center. Previously, Dr. Dere held several positions at Amgen,
including, most recently, Head of Global Development and Chief
Medical Officer. During his career in the biopharmaceutical
industry, Dr. Dere led the clinical development of numerous
approved products in osteoporosis, inflammation, nephrology, and
oncology.
“Willard Dere is a highly distinguished industry leader with
deep clinical development and strategic industry expertise,” said
Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., President, CEO and Chairman of Seres. “I
am extremely pleased to welcome Willard to the Seres Board during
this important period, where Seres is developing SER-109 as the
first Phase 3 stage microbiome therapeutic candidate and which may
be the first ever FDA approved microbiome drug.”
Dr. Dere commented: “Seres is advancing a promising pipeline of
microbiome product candidates using a highly differentiated
scientific approach. I am eager to contribute to the company’s
objective of bringing the first FDA approved microbiome products to
individuals with serious diseases.”
Biographical Background
Dr. Dere serves as the Professor of Internal Medicine; B. Lue
and Hope S. Bettilyon Presidential Endowed Chair in Internal
Medicine for Diabetes Research, Executive Director of Personalized
Health, and Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Clinical
and Translational Science at the University of Utah Health Sciences
Center. Prior to re-joining academia in November 2014, Dr. Dere was
in the biopharmaceutical industry for 25 years. He joined Amgen in
2003 where he held multiple roles including head of global
development, and both corporate and international chief medical
officer. He led development of programs in various therapeutic
areas, and retired from Amgen in October 2014. He began his career
at Eli Lilly in 1989, and held a number of different global roles
in clinical pharmacology, regulatory affairs, and both early-stage
translational and late-stage clinical research. Dr. Dere currently
serves on the Board of Directors of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Ocera
Therapeutics, and Radius Health. He earned his undergraduate and
medical degrees at the University of California, Davis, completed
his internal medicine residency training at the University of Utah,
and his postdoctoral training in endocrinology and metabolism at
the University of California, San Francisco.
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics 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. A Phase 3 clinical study with its lead
program, SER-109, is ongoing in patients with multiply recurrent C.
difficile infection. Seres’ second clinical candidate, SER-287, is
being evaluated in a Phase 1b study in patients with
mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis, and the study has completed
enrollment. Seres is also developing SER-262, the first ever
synthetic microbiome therapeutic candidate, in a Phase 1b study in
patients with primary C. difficile infection. 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 Seres’ goals and objectives, the potential impact of
Seres’ microbiome therapeutics platform, expectations regarding
Seres’ pipeline, and Dr. Dere’s potential contribution to
Seres.
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; difficulties managing our growth; 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; unfavorable or
lacking analyst research or reports; and that we are currently
subject to securities class action litigation. These and other
important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, or SEC, on May 4, 2017 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.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170710005426/en/
IR and PR Contact:Seres
TherapeuticsCarlo Tanzi, Ph.D., 617-203-3467Head of Investor
Relations and Corporate
CommunicationsCtanzi@serestherapeutics.com
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