Microbiotica Appoints Thomas Lynch as Independent Non-Executive Chairman

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Microbiotica, a leading player in microbiome-based therapeutics and biomarkers, announces the appointment of Thomas Lynch as the new non-Executive Chairman of its Board, from 1 September 2019.

Thomas Lynch brings extensive life sciences and wider board-level experience which will be invaluable in supporting Microbiotica’s strategic growth. He currently holds a number of board positions on private and publicly listed life science companies globally. These include: Chairman of Profectus Biosciences, Inc., Adherium Ltd (ASX: ADR), Evofem Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVFM) and Amarin Pharmaceuticals (Ireland) Ltd (the principal operating subsidiary of Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AMRN)); and Board member of Stamford Devices Ltd, Aerogen Ltd and GW Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ: GWPH). He served on the board of Icon plc (one of the world’s largest clinical research organisations) from 1993 to 2016, and from 2012 to 2016 as its Chairman.

Thomas also has significant experience governing hospital and medical charity boards. He is the Chair of the Ireland East Hospital Group, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and the Dublin Academic Medical Centre. Thomas is also the Chair of Clinical Research Development Ireland (a not-for-profit research partnership between Ireland’s medical schools), and a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. He has previously served as a member of the Expert Group on Resource Allocation in the Health Service.

Thomas started his career at KPMG, before moving onto Elan Corporation plc (now merged with Perrigo (NYSE: PRGO)) where he served as CFO, Vice Chairman and a Senior Advisor over eight years, leading its transition from drug delivery to biotechnology. He founded a company that became Warner Chilcott plc (acquired by Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN)), and was Chairman and Chief Executive of Amarin Corporation plc, which he successfully repositioned as a cardiovascular company.

Thomas graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in Economics and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He has received honorary doctorates from University College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast and was appointed a knight of Saint Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI.

Thomas Lynch, non-Executive Chairman of Microbiotica, said: “The microbiome is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting areas of biomedicine and one that I believe presents great opportunity. Microbiotica’s world-leading platform positions the Company to become a leader in microbiome-based therapeutics and biomarkers, as illustrated by its impressive ongoing collaborations with industry, academia and clinicians. I look forward to working with the Board and the team at Microbiotica to help steer its growth trajectory and maximise the Company’s potential to bring new therapies to market.”

Mike Romanos, CEO of Microbiotica, said: “We are delighted to welcome Tom as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Microbiotica has progressed considerably since spinning out of the Sanger Institute in 2016: in its capabilities, its pipeline of therapeutics and biomarkers, and strategic collaborations such as the multi-year $534m partnership with Genentech. Tom’s international experience in developing fast-maturing companies will be invaluable to our future ambitions. We would also like to thank Sam Williams, who has chaired our Board since the Company’s inception and who will continue as a non-executive investor director.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

About Microbiotica

Microbiotica was established in December 2016 to develop and commercialise ground-breaking research into the role of the human microbiome in health and disease and its application to medicine conducted at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The Company was founded by Dr Mike Romanos, Dr Trevor Lawley and Professor Gordon Dougan, FRS. Microbiotica is based at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge, UK, with offices in the Biodata Innovation Centre and laboratories in the Sanger Institute. It has a strategic collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as well as with University of Adelaide to develop a defined product for ulcerative colitis.

Microbiotica has attracted £12m in equity investment from Cambridge Innovation Capital, IP Group plc and Seventure Partners.

For more information, please visit www.microbiotica.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Microbiotica’s platform

The Microbiotica platform comprises the world’s leading microbiome Culture Collection and linked Reference Genome Database that enable unprecedented precision of gut bacterial identification. The Company is adding to this at a very rapid rate through its industrial culturing and sequencing pipeline, providing the best available representation of clinical trial samples for strain-level identification of bacteria. The complex datasets that arise from such studies are analysed using AI techniques to discern microbiome signatures linked to phenotype. The availability of the physical Culture Collection enables biological evaluation of bacteria in proprietary translational models including humanised microbiome mouse models.

About the Microbiome

Recognition of the importance of the microbiome, the body’s trillions of resident bacteria, represents a paradigm-shift in our understanding of its impact on human health and disease. This creates major opportunities in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of disease including enteric infections, autoimmune disorders, metabolic disorders, cancer and neurological disease.

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