CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MCRB) today announced the appointment of Kevin Horgan, M.D., as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Horgan will lead Seres’ clinical development, clinical operations, regulatory affairs, and medical affairs functions. Dr. Horgan will succeed Seres’ outgoing Chief Medical Officer, Michele Trucksis, Ph.D., M.D., who will continue to provide consulting services to the Company.
“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Kevin Horgan as our Chief Medical Officer, reporting directly to me. Kevin is an accomplished drug developer with extensive experience successfully leading numerous mid- and late-stage clinical programs to approval. Seres’ R&D efforts are increasingly focused on early and later stage immunological indications, and Kevin’s deep clinical background in these areas makes him very well suited to lead our clinical development studies,” said Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., President, CEO and Chairman of Seres. “I would also like to thank Shelley for her contributions to Seres, which included initiating and completing several of the first microbiome therapeutic clinical studies ever conducted. We appreciate her continued consulting through the transition.”
Dr. Horgan commented, “I am extremely excited to join Seres Therapeutics to advance the emerging modality of microbiome-based medicine. Microbiome therapeutics have tremendous promise across the wide spectrum of diseases in which the immune system is increasingly recognized as playing a critical role, from inflammation to cancer. I look forward to working with the outstanding Seres team to advance new clinical studies with a focus on SER-287 in ulcerative colitis, and SER-401 in immuno-oncology, and also to support the progression of the broader pipeline.”
Over a three-decade academic and industry career, Dr. Horgan has contributed to the development and approval of multiple therapeutics across immunology and oncology indications. Most recently, Dr. Horgan was Vice President of Clinical Development at AstraZeneca where he led the development of combination immune-oncology programs. Dr. Horgan earlier co-founded Tucana Health, a microbiome diagnostics company. Previously, Dr. Horgan held Chief Medical Officer roles at Soligenix and Coronado. Prior to those roles, he was Vice President of Clinical Immunology at Centocor during the development and approval of Remicade, Stelara and Simponi, approved for inflammatory bowel disease indications. Dr. Horgan began his industry career at Merck, following positions in academic medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and immunologic training at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Horgan earned his medical degree from University College Cork in Ireland. He did his medical residency on the Osler Service, at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MCRB) 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 state of bacterial diversity and function is imbalanced. Seres’ lead program, SER-109, has obtained Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is in Phase 3 development for multiply recurrent C. difficile infection. SER-287 has successfully completed a Phase 1b study in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. Seres is developing SER-262, the first ever synthetic microbiome therapeutic candidate, in a Phase 1b study in patients with primary C. difficile infection. Seres is also developing SER-401 to augment the efficacy of immuno-oncology treatment. 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 Dr. Horgan’s potential contribution to the Company, any ongoing relationship Dr. Trucksis may have with the Company, and the success of the Company’s clinical programs.
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; our limited operating history; our unproven approach to therapeutic intervention; the lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process of clinical drug development; our reliance on third parties and collaborators to conduct our clinical trials, manufacture our product candidates, and develop and commercialize our product candidates, if approved; our lack of expertise in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing our product candidates; failure to compete successfully against other drug companies; protection of our proprietary technology and the confidentiality of our trade secrets; potential lawsuits for, or claims of, infringement of third-party intellectual property or challenges to the ownership of our intellectual property; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; our ability to retain key personnel and to manage our growth; the potential volatility of our common stock; and our management and principal stockholders have the ability to control or significantly influence our business. 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 August 2, 2018 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.
