- Chris Schade to Assume Role of Chairman of the Board, Succeeding Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D.
- Michelle C. Werner, CEO of Alltrna, Appointed to Board of Directors
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Omega Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMGA) (“Omega”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines, today announced that Chris Schade has been appointed as Chairman of the Board, succeeding Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D. In addition, Michelle C. Werner will join Omega’s Board to support the Company’s growth.
“As a Co-founder of Omega and Chairman of its Board since 2017, it has been a privilege to help chart Omega’s journey from concept to platform to start up to clinical-stage public company,” said Dr. Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “As Omega prepares for its next phase of growth, Chris’ exemplary track record in building and scaling companies makes him ideally suited to provide long-term strategic guidance to the company’s strong foundation. I am confident that with Chris’ stewardship, Omega is well positioned to fully realize the potential of precision epigenomic control to deliver an entirely new class of programmable mRNA medicines to patients.”
“On behalf of the entire company, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Noubar for his partnership and dedication to Omega. His visionary guidance, expertise in building pioneering companies and unwavering support as Co-founder and Chairman were instrumental in building the Company to where we are today. I look forward to continuing our relationship as part of the Flagship Pioneering ecosystem,” said Mahesh Karande, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega Therapeutics. “Furthermore, I am delighted to welcome Chris as our Chairman and Michelle as a new member to our Board of Directors. Chris is a highly accomplished executive whose deep experience, background and knowledge will provide strategic guidance to both our Board and our executive team as we advance our OMEGA platform and pipeline of novel therapeutics. Michelle brings over 20 years of experience spanning both commercial and research and development responsibilities that will be invaluable as we continue to scale the organization.”
Mr. Schade added, “I am thrilled and honored to be Chairman of the Board of Omega at such an exciting time in the Company’s development. With first-in-human clinical data on the horizon and a robust pipeline of promising therapeutic candidates, Omega is poised to harness the potential of epigenetics and create a new class of important therapeutics. Additionally, I am pleased to welcome Michelle to the Board of Directors. Her broad expertise will be a considerable asset to an accomplished Board of Directors as the Company continues to mature.”
Michelle C. Werner is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of experience spanning commercial and research & development (R&D) responsibilities. Currently, she serves as the CEO of Alltrna and CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Prior to her current role, Ms. Werner served as Worldwide Franchise Head, Solid Tumors at Novartis Oncology, where she was responsible for delivering the disease area strategies across multiple tumors and led business development efforts resulting in a doubling of long-term portfolio value for the franchise. Prior to Novartis, she was a senior leader at AstraZeneca in several roles, including Global Franchise Head in Hematology and Head of U.S. Oncology. Ms. Werner previously spent 10 years at Bristol Myers Squibb in various roles in sales, marketing, and market access in both the U.S. and the U.K., and above market in Europe and Global almost exclusively in oncology.
About Omega Therapeutics
Omega Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines to treat or cure a broad range of diseases. By pre-transcriptionally modulating gene expression, Omega’s approach enables precision epigenomic control of nearly all human genes, including historically undruggable and difficult-to-treat targets, without altering native nucleic acid sequences. Founded in 2017 by Flagship Pioneering following breakthrough research by world-renowned experts in the field of epigenetics, Omega is led by a seasoned and accomplished leadership team with a track record of innovation and operational excellence. The Company is committed to revolutionizing genomic medicine and has a diverse pipeline of therapeutic candidates derived from its OMEGA platform spanning oncology, regenerative medicine, multigenic diseases including immunology, and select monogenic diseases.
For more information, visit omegatherapeutics.com, or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
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 expectations surrounding the potential of our development candidates as well as Mr. Schade’s and Ms. Werner’s impact on the Company’s anticipated growth. 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: the novel technology on which our product candidates are based makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of preclinical and clinical development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if at all; the substantial development and regulatory risks associated with epigenomic controllers due to the novel and unprecedented nature of this new category of medicines; our limited operating history; the incurrence of significant losses and the fact that we expect to continue to incur significant additional losses for the foreseeable future; our need for substantial additional financing; our investments in research and development efforts that further enhance the OMEGA platform, and their impact on our results; uncertainty regarding preclinical development, especially for a new class of medicines such as epigenomic controllers; potential delays in and unforeseen costs arising from our clinical trials; the fact that our product candidates may be associated with serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their regulatory development, prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences; the impact of increased demand for the manufacture of mRNA and LNP based vaccines to treat COVID-19 on our development plans; difficulties manufacturing the novel technology on which our OEC candidates are based; our ability to adapt to rapid and significant technological change; our reliance on third parties for the manufacture of materials; our ability to successfully acquire and establish our own manufacturing facilities and infrastructure; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers for lipid excipients used in our product candidates; our ability to advance our product candidates to clinical development; and our ability to obtain, maintain, enforce and adequately protect our intellectual property rights. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, and our other filings 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.
CONTACT Investor contact: Eva Stroynowski 617.949.4370 estroynowski@omegatx.com Media contact: Jason Braco, LifeSci Communications 646.751.4361 jbraco@lifescicomms.com
