OXFORD, United Kingdom, Jan. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMass Therapeutics (‘OMass’ or ‘the Company’), a biotechnology company identifying medicines against highly validated target ecosystems such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes, today announced updates to its Board of Directors, including the appointment of Jonathan Montagu, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of HotSpot Therapeutics, as Board Chair. In conjunction with the appointment, existing Directors Jim Geraghty and Birgitte Volck will retire from the board and continue to support the company as strategic advisers.
“Over the past year, OMass has made meaningful progress across its portfolio, including advancing our lead MC2 antagonist towards the clinic, establishing in vivo efficacy for our first-in-class SLC15A4 program, and continuing to demonstrate the power of our OdyssION™ platform,” said Ros Deegan, Chief Executive Officer of OMass Therapeutics. “I would like to thank Jim and Birgitte for their contributions in building the foundation we have today, and I am excited to work closely with Jonathan as we continue to build long-term value across the pipeline and become a clinical-stage company.”
Mr. Montagu has served as an OMass Board Director since 2019 and brings extensive experience as a trained chemist and biotechnology executive, with deep expertise across immunology, small-molecule drug discovery platforms and leadership of private biotech companies. Prior to co-founding HotSpot, Mr. Montagu served as Chief Business Officer at Nimbus Therapeutics, where he helped establish the company's drug discovery platform and pipeline. He also served as Vice President, Business Development at Concert Pharmaceuticals, where he played a leading role in executing the company’s $1 billion multi-product transaction with GSK.
“I want to thank Jim and Birgitte for their many valuable contributions to OMass as the company has grown and successfully progressed multiple programs to late-stage preclinical development,” said Mr. Montagu. “OMass has built a differentiated pipeline and platform, and with several important milestones ahead, including the planned entry into the clinic, I look forward to working closely with Ros and the leadership team to help guide the company through its next phase of growth.”
For further information, please contact:
| OMass Therapeutics |
| Rosamond Deegan, Chief Executive Officer Email: ros.deegan@omass.com |
| THRUST Renee Leck Email: renee@thrustsc.com |
About OMass Therapeutics
OMass Therapeutics is a biotechnology company discovering medicines against highly validated target ecosystems, such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes.
OdyssION™, OMass’ unique drug discovery platform, comprises next-generation native mass spectrometry with novel biochemistry techniques and custom chemistry to interrogate not just a drug target, but also the interaction of the target with its native ecosystem, separate from the confounding complexity of the cell. This unique approach results in cell-system fidelity with cell-free precision.
OMass is advancing a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics in rare diseases and immunological conditions. Its lead program is a best-in-class MC2 (melanocortin-2) receptor antagonist for the treatment of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) and ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome. The focus of the program has been to increase receptor residency time to make OMass’ antagonists resistant to competition by the endogenous ligand, thereby avoiding loss of efficacy in the face of rising adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels due to reductions in glucocorticoid supplementation for CAH or progression of Cushing’s Syndrome.
Headquartered in Oxford, UK, OMass has raised over $160M (£129M) from a top-tier international investor syndicate including Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, Sanofi Ventures and British Patient Capital.
To learn more, please visit www.omass.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
