TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
05 June 2018
5 June 2018
PureTech Health plc
PureTech's Gelesis Appoints Harry Leider, former Walgreens Chief
Medical Officer, as Chief Medical Officer and Paul Fonteyne,
Chairman and Former CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA, to Board of
Directors
Appointments bring strong track records of leadership and
experience in commercial launches and medical affairs
PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech Health"), an
advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today
that its affiliate, Gelesis, has appointed Harry Leider, MD, MBA,
former Chief Medical Officer and Group Vice President of Walgreens,
as Chief Medical Officer. Gelesis also announced the appointment of
Paul Fonteyne, Chairman and former CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA,
to the Board of Directors.
Harry Leider is an expert on the intersection between the
consumer and the healthcare system from his time with Walgreens. As
Chief Medical Officer, he will be responsible for leading Gelesis'
overall medical strategy, including oversight of all medical
affairs functions and programming with medical associations,
patient advocacy groups, and other healthcare organisations.
Paul Fonteyne brings a wealth of experience in commercial,
marketing, and general management functions to Gelesis' Board of
Directors. During his time at Boehringer Ingelheim, Mr Fonteyne
orchestrated a significant increase in the Company's topline sales
and growth of its human pharmaceuticals portfolio. Most
significantly, Mr Fonteyne was instrumental in several launches
from the Company's type 2 diabetes portfolio. Mr Fonteyne was a
board member at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA) Industry Association until March 2018.
Dr Bharatt Chowrira, President and Chief of Business and
Strategy at PureTech Health, commented: "One mark of a great
company is its ability to attract additional leading people to its
team. As industry veterans with diverse clinical and commercial
experience, Harry and Paul will contribute valuable guidance as the
company seeks regulatory approval for its lead product candidate,
Gelesis100, and prepares for its potential launch."
The full text of the announcement from Gelesis is as
follows:
Harry Leider, Former Chief Medical Officer of Walgreens, joins
Gelesis as Chief Medical Officer, and Paul Fonteyne, Chairman and
Former CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA, joins the Gelesis Board of
Directors
New appointees bring extensive medical and commercial expertise
to Gelesis as the company prepares for regulatory approval filings
in the US and Europe
BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 5, 2018 -Gelesis, a biotechnology
company developing first-in-class mechanotherapeutics to treat
obesity and other chronic diseases related to the gastrointestinal
(GI) pathway, today announced the appointment of Harry Leider, MD,
MBA, former Chief Medical Officer and Group Vice President of
Walgreens, as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of
Gelesis. The Company has also appointed Paul Fonteyne, Chairman and
former CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA, to the Board of
Directors.
"Paul and Harry each bring extensive track records of
successfully launching innovative products and services that have
changed the practice of medicine," said Yishai Zohar, Chief
Executive Officer of Gelesis. "I am honoured and excited to welcome
Paul and Harry to our seasoned commercial team. Their commercial
and clinical expertise, along with their strategic business
perspectives from different sectors of the health care system, will
be instrumental in advancing Gelesis on our path towards commercial
success."
Prior to joining Gelesis, Dr Leider served as Chief Medical
Officer and Group Vice President at Walgreens since 2013, where he
provided executive leadership for all clinical program development,
quality assessment, health outcomes research, health analytics, and
clinical reporting activities across the enterprise. He also led a
team that evaluated new healthcare technologies and services. His
previous leadership positions include serving as Chief Medical
Officer of Ameritox, XLHealth, and HealthNet, in addition to
serving as a physician executive at Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan for
six years. Dr Leider is on the editorial boards of Physician
Executive and the Journal of Population Health Management. He is
also a founding board member of the Disease Management Association
of America (DMAA) and served on the board of the Institute of Aging
at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Leider also served for six
years as an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and
faculty member at Harvard Medical School. More recently, Dr Leider
was a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business
and has been a senior advisor to PureTech Health since 2015.
"Gelesis represents an entirely new category of medicine with a
unique platform that has been designed to safely and effectively
treat obesity and chronic gastrointestinal-related diseases. This
provides us with an innovative approach to address significant
global health issues that need fresh thinking to solve," said Harry
Leider, MD. "The clinical efficacy and safety data supporting
Gelesis100 are very compelling, especially its unprecedented safety
profile, which opens up potential that has not existed in this
category to date. I look forward to bringing this differentiated
product candidate to patients, if approved."
In his new role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr Leider will be
responsible for leading Gelesis' overall medical strategy,
including oversight of all medical affairs functions and
programming with medical associations, patient advocacy groups, and
other healthcare organisations. Dr Leider will also play a key role
in advancing the Company's innovative pipeline of product
candidates. Dr Hassan Heshmati, Gelesis' Founding CMO, will
continue to oversee a range of clinical activities as Executive
Vice President, Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Paul Fonteyne brings to the Gelesis Board of Directors a wealth
of experience in commercial, marketing, and general management
functions. During his time at Boehringer Ingelheim, Mr Fonteyne has
orchestrated a significant increase in the Company's topline sales
and growth of its human pharmaceuticals portfolio. Most
significantly, Mr Fonteyne was instrumental in several launches
from the Company's type 2 diabetes portfolio.
Mr Fonteyne said, "Given the challenges associated with current
treatments for obesity, I believe Gelesis' innovative approach has
the potential to disrupt and evolve the current treatment
paradigms. I look forward to working with the Gelesis team as they
grow into a leading biotechnology company with the goal of
addressing high unmet medical needs."
Mr Fonteyne is Chairman of Boehringer Ingelheim USA. He also
most recently served as President and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim
USA and as a board member of the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Industry Association until March
2018. From 2009 to 2011, Mr Fonteyne served as Senior Corporate
Vice President, Prescription Medicines Marketing at Boehringer
Ingelheim GmbH. From 2003 to 2008 he served as Executive Vice
President, Head of Marketing and Sales, Prescription Medicines at
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to his work at
Boehringer Ingelheim, Mr Fonteyne served as Regional Vice
President, Sales and as Vice President, Marketing at Merck &
Co., Inc. and held various leadership roles with Abbott
Laboratories, Inc.
About Gelesis100
Gelesis100 is a new approach to weight loss that is designed to
employ multiple mechanisms of action along the GI tract to promote
satiety, induce weight loss and promote GI health. Gelesis100 is
non-systemic and administered orally in capsules containing small
hydrogel particles, which are made from two natural components that
form a novel 3D structure. The novel hydrogel is manufactured
through Gelesis' multi-step, proprietary process and protected by
nine families of patents through 2033, several of which have
already been allowed or issued in major markets.
Gelesis100 capsules are taken with water prior to a meal, after
which the small hydrogel particles are released from the capsules
in the stomach and rapidly absorb water, hydrating to approximately
100 times their original size. Gelesis100 is designed to mix
homogeneously with food and travel through the GI tract inducing
satiety, reducing hunger, and causing weight loss. Once in the
large intestine, Gelesis100 partially degrades and releases most of
the water, which is reabsorbed by the body. The small gel particles
pass through the body without being absorbed and are eliminated in
the same manner as food.
Gelesis100 has been studied in more than 450 patients across
five clinical studies throughout the United States, Canada, and
Europe and in these studies has shown weight loss, increased
satiety, reduced hunger, and a consistently strong safety
profile.
About Gelesis
Gelesis is developing a novel mechanobiology platform technology
to treat obesity and other chronic diseases related to the GI
pathway. Gelesis' proprietary approach is designed to act
mechanically in the GI pathway to potentially alter the course of
chronic diseases safely and effectively. In September 2017, Gelesis
completed a pivotal trial for weight loss evaluating its lead
product candidate Gelesis100. Additionally, Gelesis is conducting a
proof-of-concept study for its second candidate, Gelesis200, which
is optimised for weight loss and glycaemic control in patients with
type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. Novel hydrogel mechanotherapeutics
based on the Gelesis platform technology are also being advanced
through a pipeline with preclinical studies in other GI-related
conditions such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),
non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and inflammatory bowel disease
(IBD).
The Gelesis executive and advisory team includes some of the
world's leading experts in obesity, chronic disease research, and
clinical development, as well as materials science innovators,
commercialisation experts, and entrepreneurs. Gelesis is an
affiliate of PureTech Health (PRTC.L), an advanced, clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company. For more information, visit
www.gelesis.com or connect with us on Twitter @GelesisInc.
About PureTech Health
PureTech Health (PRTC.L) is an advanced, clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines targeting
serious diseases that result from dysfunctions in the nervous,
immune, and gastrointestinal systems (brain-immune-gut or the "BIG"
axis), which together represent the adaptive human systems.
PureTech Health is at the forefront of understanding and addressing
the biological processes and crosstalk associated with the BIG
axis. By harnessing this emerging field of human biology, PureTech
Health is pioneering new categories of medicine with the potential
to have great impact on people with serious diseases. PureTech
Health is advancing a rich pipeline of innovative therapies that
includes two pivotal stage programmes, multiple human
proof-of-concept studies and a number of early clinical and
pre-clinical programmes. PureTech's research and development
pipeline has been advanced in collaboration with some of the
world's leading scientific experts, who along with PureTech's team
of biopharma pioneers, entrepreneurs and seasoned Board, identify,
invent, and clinically de-risk new medicines. With this experienced
team pursuing cutting edge science, PureTech Health is building the
biopharma company of the future focused on improving and extending
the lives of people with serious disease. For more information,
visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter
@puretechh.
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 regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. 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,
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.
Contact:
Investors EU media U.S. media
Allison Mead Talbot Ben Atwell, Rob Winder Tom Donovan
+1 617 651 3156 +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 +1 857 559 3397
amt@puretechhealth.com ben.atwell@FTIconsulting.com tom@tenbridgecommunications.com
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END
NRAEAAKLELLPEAF
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June 05, 2018 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)
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