11
March 2025
PureTech
Health plc
PureTech Founded Entity
Seaport Therapeutics Appoints Robert J. Hombach to its Board of
Directors as Audit Committee Chair
Former Baxter and Baxalta
Chief Financial Officer brings more than 30 years of biotech
financial and operational experience
PureTech Health plc
(Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the
"Company"), a clinical-stage
biotherapeutics company, noted that its Founded Entity,
Seaport
Therapeutics, ("Seaport")
a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is
advancing novel neuropsychiatric medicines with a proven strategy
and team, today announced that Robert "Bob"
J. Hombach has been appointed to its Board of Directors and will
serve as the Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Hombach is a
seasoned financial and operational executive with three decades of
high-level leadership in the healthcare sector. His experience
includes serving on the Audit, Finance and Compensation Committees
for several public and private Boards of Directors, such as FORTUNE
500 companies like BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN), where he also chairs
the Audit Committee, and Henry Schein (NASDAQ: HSIC), a member of
the S&P 500® index.
The full text of the announcement
from Seaport is as follows:
Seaport Therapeutics Appoints
Robert J. Hombach to its Board of Directors as Audit Committee
Chair
Former Baxter and Baxalta
Chief Financial Officer brings more than 30 years of biotech
financial and operational experience
BOSTON, March 11, 2025 - Seaport
Therapeutics ("Seaport" or the
"Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is
advancing novel neuropsychiatric medicines with a proven strategy
and team, today announced that Robert "Bob" J. Hombach has been
appointed to its Board of Directors and will serve as the Chair of
the Audit Committee. Mr. Hombach is a seasoned financial and
operational executive with three decades of high-level leadership
in the healthcare sector. His experience includes serving on the
Audit, Finance and Compensation Committees for several public and
private Boards of Directors, such as FORTUNE 500 companies like
BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN), where he also chairs the Audit Committee,
and Henry Schein (NASDAQ: HSIC), a member of the S&P 500®
index.
"We are excited to add Bob to our
board. His financial and operational expertise perfectly
complements the outstanding group of industry leaders on our
board," said Daphne Zohar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of
Seaport Therapeutics. "His deep understanding of the financial and
operational intricacies of growing biotech companies will be an
asset to Seaport as we advance our pipeline through important
milestones, with the goal of delivering potentially life-changing
neuropsychiatric medicines to patients and their
families."
Mr. Hombach served as the Executive
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations
Officer of Baxalta (NYSE: BXLT), a $6 billion global
biopharmaceutical company, until it was acquired by Shire plc. in
2016. He was instrumental in Baxalta's successful spin off from its
parent company, Baxter (NYSE: BAX), a nearly $18 billion company,
where he previously served as Corporate Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer. While at Baxter, he led the company's strategic
restructuring process and oversaw its venture capital investments
through the Baxter Ventures Fund. In addition to his board
positions at BioMarin and Henry Schein, Mr. Hombach is the Chair of
the Audit Committee at Embecta (NASDAQ: EMBC), a global diabetes
care company spun out of Becton Dickinson, and has held previous
board positions at several other companies including Naurex, Inc.,
which was acquired by Allergan in 2015.
"Seaport is a new breed of company
that is in a unique position to change the lives of patients with
depression and anxiety disorders, and I am honored to contribute to
the Company's growth at such a pivotal time," said Mr. Hombach.
"Seaport's scientific approach to advancing neuropsychiatric
medicines is exciting and differentiated, and I look forward to
supporting the Company's commitment to maintaining the highest
standards of financial oversight and governance as it continues its
mission to make a difference in the lives of patients and their
families impacted by these conditions."
Mr. Hombach has earned numerous accolades, including
recognition by IR Magazine
as a Top 100 US CFO ranked seventh in both 2013 and 2014. He was
also honored as a Board Leadership Fellow by the National
Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Mr. Hombach holds an
M.B.A. from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School
of Management and a B.S. in Finance cum laude from the University
of Colorado.
About Seaport Therapeutics
Seaport Therapeutics is a
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing the development
of novel neuropsychiatric medicines in areas of high unmet patient
needs. The Company has a proven strategy of advancing clinically
validated mechanisms previously held back by limitations that are
overcome with its proprietary GlyphTM technology
platform. All the therapeutic candidates in its pipeline of first
and best-in-class medicines are based on the Glyph platform, which
is uniquely designed to enable oral bioavailability, bypass
first-pass metabolism and reduce liver enzyme elevations or
hepatotoxicity and other side effects. Seaport is led by an
experienced team that invented and advanced important
neuropsychiatric medicines and are guided by an extensive network
of renowned scientists, clinicians and key opinion leaders. For
more information, please visit www.seaporttx.com.
About PureTech Health
PureTech is a clinical-stage
biotherapeutics company dedicated to giving life to new classes of
medicine to change the lives of patients with devastating diseases.
The Company has created a broad and deep pipeline through its
experienced research and development team and its extensive network
of scientists, clinicians and industry leaders that is being
advanced both internally and through its Founded Entities.
PureTech's R&D engine has resulted in the development of 29
therapeutics and therapeutic candidates, including three that have
been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A number of
these programs are being advanced by PureTech or its Founded
Entities in various indications and stages of clinical development,
including registration enabling studies. 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.
For more information, visit
www.puretechhealth.com
or connect with us on X (formerly 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 related to Seaport's development
plans for its pipeline of neuropsychiatric therapeutics based on
the Glyph Platform, the applicability of the platform beyond
neuropsychiatry, potential benefits to patients, and Seaport's and
our future prospects, developments 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, 2023,
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
UK/EU Media
Ben Atwell, Rob Winder
+44 (0) 20 3727 1000
puretech@fticonsulting.com
US
Media
Justin Chen
+1 609 578 7230
justin@tenbridgecommunications.com
