Agios Appoints Ian Clark to Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 03, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AGIO), a leader in the fields of cancer metabolism and rare genetic metabolic disorders, today announced the appointment of Ian Clark to its board of directors. Most recently, Mr. Clark served as the chief executive officer and member of the board of directors at Genentech.

“We are excited to welcome Ian to our board during an important time in Agios’ continued evolution,” said David Schenkein, M.D., chief executive officer of Agios. “Ian is a recognized leader in the biopharmaceutical industry whose extensive commercial and corporate strategy experience will be instrumental in 2017 and beyond as we execute on our vision of delivering new medicines to people with cancer and rare genetic disorders.”

Prior to his role of chief executive officer, Mr. Clark held executive management roles at Genentech, including head of global product strategy, chief marketing officer, senior vice president, general manager of biooncology and executive vice president for commercial operations. Prior to these roles, Mr. Clark served as general manager, Novartis Canada and chief operating officer for Novartis U.K. Before joining Novartis, Mr. Clark served in positions of increasing strategic importance in sales, marketing and business development at Ivax Pharma and Sanofi in the United Kingdom, France and Eastern Europe. He started his career at Searle (a subsidiary of Monsanto Corporation), holding positions in both sales and marketing. Mr. Clark serves as a member of the Economic Advisory Council at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a member of the Executive Council at TechNet, a member of the Executive Committee at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and an independent director of TerraVia Holdings. Mr. Clark received his B.S. in biological sciences from Southampton University in the United Kingdom.

“Agios is quickly becoming a commercial stage company and I am delighted to join the board of directors during this significant transition,” said Ian Clark. “I look forward to contributing to Agios’ future growth and success as the company executes several late stage development activities with the potential to change patients’ lives.”

Concurrent with the appointment of Mr. Clark, Douglas G. Cole, M.D., managing partner at Flagship Pioneering, has resigned from the company’s board of directors and the nominating and corporate governance committee of the board of directors, effective January 2, 2017. Dr. Cole has served as a member of the company’s board of directors since December 2007.

About Agios

Agios is focused on discovering and developing novel investigational medicines to treat cancer and rare genetic metabolic disorders through scientific leadership in the field of cellular metabolism. In addition to an active research and discovery pipeline across both therapeutic areas, Agios has multiple first-in-class investigational medicines in clinical and/or preclinical development. All Agios programs focus on genetically identified patient populations, leveraging our knowledge of metabolism, biology and genomics. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.agios.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include those regarding the expected benefits of Mr. Clark's service on the board of directors of Agios and the company's plans for growth and advancement of its programs. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "potential," "possible," "hope," "could," "would" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from Agios' current expectations and beliefs, including the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" included in Agios' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, and other filings that Agios may make with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Agios expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.