TIDMPRTC
RNS Number : 8327F
PureTech Health PLC
24 March 2022
24 March 2022
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Appoints Sharon Barber-Lui to Board of Directors &
Audit Committee
Seasoned life sciences expert brings further global portfolio
management and financial expertise from 20 years at Merck & Co.
Inc. to the PureTech board
Ms. Barber-Lui will also become chair of the Audit Committee of
the board
PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the
"Company"), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to
discovering, developing and commercializing highly differentiated
medicines for devastating diseases, today announced the appointment
of Sharon Barber-Lui, MBA, CPA, to its board of directors as a
non-executive director and as a member of the Audit Committee. She
previously led U.S. Oncology Portfolio Market Strategy, Operations
and Business Analytics at Merck & Co. Inc. During her two
decades at Merck & Co. Inc., Ms. Barber-Lui has held multiple
financial and operational positions of increasing responsibility,
including Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Oncology, Director of
U.S. Treasury Operations and regional Treasurer of Asia Pacific.
She currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Global Finance
at EQRx. Ms. Barber-Lui brings extensive experience in finance,
operations, portfolio management and commercialization to
PureTech's board of industry, business and academic leaders.
"Sharon has a track record of success and leadership spanning
diverse experiences across the life sciences industry, with
particular expertise in financial systems and governance. We are
very pleased to have her join PureTech's board," said Christopher
Viehbacher, Chair of PureTech's Board of Directors. "On behalf of
the board, I welcome Sharon and look forward to her
contributions."
"I am energized by PureTech's unique model and approach to
creating new therapies for devastating diseases," commented Ms.
Barber-Lui. "PureTech is a true pioneer, and I look forward to
joining the distinguished members of the board to help support
PureTech's talented team in executing on the collective vision of
transforming patient care by giving life to science."
Ms. Barber-Lui has more than 20 years of diverse experiences at
Fortune 50 and major public accountancies with strong life science
innovation, entrepreneurship and business transformation activity.
Since 2022, she has served as Senior Vice President of Global
Finance at EQRx, a new type of pharmaceutical company committed to
developing and delivering innovative medicines to patients at
radically lower prices. She also led Portfolio Market Strategy,
Operations and Business Analytics at Merck & Co. Inc.'s U.S.
Oncology business from 2019 through 2021, where she previously
served as Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Oncology from 2014 to
2018. That business portfolio included new, mature, co-developed
and co-commercialized products. Ms. Barber-Lui also held a number
of other financial and operational related roles throughout the
course of her 22 years at Merck & Co. Inc. Ms. Barber-Lui
received her MBA, marketing and corporate entrepreneurship and her
B.S. in accounting from Lehigh University.
On joining the board, Ms. Barber-Lui will become a member of the
board's Audit Committee, and she will become chair of that
committee immediately following the Company's announcement of its
2021 full-year financial results. At that time, Mr. Viehbacher will
step down from his role as chair of the board's Audit Committee but
will remain a member of the committee. Dr Raju Kucherlapati and
Dame Marjorie Scardino will also continue as members of the Audit
Committee.
"We welcome Sharon's contributions at a time when PureTech's
pipeline and broader portfolio of differentiated medicines include
many advanced clinical and commercial-stage programs," said Daphne
Zohar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PureTech. "Her
background and expertise will strongly complement our existing
board and bring additional perspective to our strategy of building
a leading biopharmaceutical company."
Ms. Barber-Lui is independent for the purposes of the UK
Corporate Governance Code, and PureTech confirms that there is no
further information required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph
9.6.13 of the U.K. Listing Rules.
PureTech's Board of Directors
PureTech's Board of Directors includes former executives of
major pharmaceutical companies, entrepreneurs, and award winning
academic and clinical leaders who leverage their expertise to
support our mission. Following the appointment of Ms. Barber-Lui,
the board of directors is comprised of the following members:
Daphne Zohar, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director -
Daphne Zohar is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of
PureTech, and she has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since the Company's founding. She has also served as the
founding Chief Executive Officer for a number of PureTech's Founded
Entities. A successful entrepreneur, Ms. Zohar created PureTech,
assembling a leading team to help implement her vision for the
Company, and was a key participant in fundraising, business
development and establishing the underlying programs and platforms
that have resulted in PureTech's substantial pipeline.
Chris Viehbacher, Board Chair - Chris Viehbacher has served as a
member of PureTech's Board of Directors since 2015 and as Chair
since September 2019. He is the Managing Partner of Gurnet Point
Capital, a Boston based investment fund associated with the
Bertarelli family and has a $2 billion capital allocation. He is
the former Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of
Directors of Sanofi and was also the Chair of the Board of Genzyme
in Boston.
Sharon Barber-Lui, MBA, CPA, Independent Non-Executive Director
- Sharon Barber-Lui has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since 2022. She was previously the Head of U.S. Oncology
Portfolio Strategy, Operations and Business Analytics at Merck
& Co. Inc. During her two decades at Merck, Ms. Barber-Lui held
multiple financial and operational positions, including Chief
Financial Officer of U.S. Oncology, Director of U.S. Treasury
Operations and regional Treasurer of Asia Pacific.
Bharatt Chowrira, PhD, JD, President and Chief Business, Legal
& Operating Officer and Director - Bharatt Chowrira, PhD, JD,
is the President and Chief Business, Legal & Operating Officer
of PureTech, and he has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since 2021. Prior to joining PureTech, Dr. Chowrira was
the President of Synlogic, Inc. He previously served as the Chief
Operating Officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals Inc., until its
acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals, and he has held various
leadership and management positions across the biopharmaceutical
industry.
Raju Kucherlapati, PhD, Independent Non-Executive Director -
Raju Kucherlapati, PhD, has served as a member of PureTech's Board
of Directors since 2014. He is the Paul C. Cabot Professor of
Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr.
Kucherlapati was a founder and formerly a board member of Abgenix
(acquired by Amgen for $2.2 billion), Cell Genesys and Millennium
Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Takeda for $8.8 billion).
John LaMattina, PhD, Independent Non-Executive Director - John
LaMattina, PhD, has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since 2009. Dr. LaMattina was previously president of
Pfizer Global Research and Development and held positions of
increasing responsibility during his 30-year career at Pfizer.
Bob Langer, ScD, Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director - Bob
Langer, ScD, is a Co-founder of PureTech and has served as a member
of PureTech's Board of Directors since the Company's founding. He
has served as the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT since
2005. He is one of 12 institute professors, which is the highest
honor that can be awarded to a faculty member at MIT. Dr. Langer
has received over 220 major awards and is the most cited engineer
in history.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Independent Non-Executive Director - Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since 2020. She is a pioneering biotech entrepreneur, a
healthcare visionary, a global influencer and a passionate
philanthropist. She is a pioneer of India's biotech industry and
founder of Biocon.
Dame Marjorie Scardino, Senior Independent Director - Dame
Marjorie Scardino has served as a member of PureTech's Board of
Directors since 2015. She served as Chief Executive of The
Economist for 12 years and was the Chief Executive of Pearson plc,
the world's leading education company and the owner of Penguin
Books and The Financial Times Group. She served as chairman of The
MacArthur Foundation from 2012 to 2017, and later became the
Chairman of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
PureTech's R&D Committee
PureTech's R&D Committee works in close collaboration with
the board and PureTech's network of scientific experts to drive our
distinctive R&D model for advancing scientific breakthroughs.
The Committee is comprised of board members Bob Langer, ScD, Raju
Kucherlapati, PhD, and John LaMattina, PhD, in addition to the
following members:
H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, Board Observer and R&D Committee
Chair - H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, is a Board Observer and Chair of
PureTech's R&D Committee. He received the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine and is the David H Koch Professor of Biology
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an investigator of the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, neurobiologist (neurology) at
Massachusetts General Hospital, a member of the MIT McGovern
Institute for Brain Research and the MIT Koch Institute for
Integrative Cancer Research. He is cofounder of multiple life
science companies, including Epizyme (EPZM), Mitobridge (acquired
by Astellas) and Idun Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer) and was
a member of the Scientific Advisor Board of the Novartis Institutes
for BioMedical Research.
Dennis Ausiello, MD, R&D Committee Member - Dennis Ausiello,
MD, is a member of PureTech's R&D Committee. He is the Jackson
Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine and was previously
Director, Emeritus of the MD/PhD Program at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Ausiello is Chairman of Medicine, Emeritus and Director of the
Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health (CATCH) at
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Ausiello served on the
Board of Directors of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, where he was their
former Lead Director.
Bennett Shapiro, MD, Co-founder and R&D Committee Member -
Ben Shapiro, MD, is a Co-founder and member of PureTech's R&D
Committee. As former Executive Vice President at Merck Research
Laboratories of Merck & Co. Inc., Dr. Shapiro initially led
Worldwide Basic Research and was responsible for all the basic and
preclinical research activities at Merck & Co. Inc. He later
led Worldwide Licensing and External Research and was responsible
for Merck's relationships with the academic and industrial
biomedical research community. His leadership resulted in the
discovery, development and registration of approximately 25 drugs
and vaccines.
About PureTech Health
PureTech is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated
to discovering, developing and commercializing highly
differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, including
inflammatory, fibrotic and immunological conditions, intractable
cancers, lymphatic and gastrointestinal diseases and neurological
and neuropsychological disorders, among others. The Company has
created a broad and deep pipeline through the expertise of its
experienced research and development team and its extensive network
of scientists, clinicians and industry leaders. This pipeline,
which is being advanced both internally and through PureTech's
Founded Entities, is comprised of 25 therapeutics and therapeutic
candidates, including two that have received both U.S. FDA
clearance and European marketing authorization, as of the date of
PureTech's most recently filed Half Year Report and corresponding
Form 6-K. All of the underlying programs and platforms that
resulted in this pipeline of therapeutic candidates were initially
identified or discovered and then advanced by the PureTech team
through key validation points based on the Company's unique
insights into the biology of the brain, immune and gut, or BIG,
systems and the interface between those systems, referred to as the
BIG Axis.
For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect
with us on Twitter @puretechh.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are or may be
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 those statements that relate to expectations
regarding the addition of Ms. Barber-Liu to our board of directors
and her role with the board and the board's Audit Committee , and
PureTech's future prospects, development plans and strategies. The
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
important factors that could cause actual results, performance and
achievements to differ materially from current expectations,
including, but not limited to, those risks, uncertainties and other
important factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our
Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020
filed with the SEC and in our other 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 and regulatory requirements, we
disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
Contact:
PureTech
Public Relations
publicrelations@puretechhealth.com
Investor Relations
IR@puretechhealth.com
EU Media
Ben Atwell, Rob Winder
+44 (0) 20 3727 1000
ben.atwell@FTIconsulting.com
U.S. Media
Nichole Sarkis
+1 774 278 8273
nichole@tenbridgecommunications.com
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