Evelo Biosciences Announces Appointments of Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos and Tonya Williams to Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 06, 2022 -- Evelo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:EVLO), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new modality of orally delivered medicines, today announced the appointment of Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos, Ph.D., and Tonya Williams, J.D., to its Board of Directors.

“We are delighted to welcome Jose-Carlos back to our Board. He is one of the world's preeminent drug discovery and immunology leaders, and has vast experience across both large pharmaceutical companies and as well as smaller biotechs,” said Simba Gill, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Evelo. “Tonya's experience in government affairs, corporate responsibility, and communications will be important as we move towards later stage development and delivering on our vision of providing safe, effective, oral, and accessible medicines to hundreds of millions of people around the world.”

About Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos

Dr. Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos brings extensive executive experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to Evelo. Dr. Gutiérrez is currently Chief Science Officer at Danaher. Prior to that role, he was Global Head of Global Drug Discovery at AbbVie. Dr. Gutierrez-Ramos previously served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Repertoire Immune Medicine and Chief Executive Officer and President of Synlogic. Earlier in his career, Dr. Gutierrez-Ramos held Executive R&D positions at Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Takeda. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Bicycle Therapeutics. Dr. Gutierrez-Ramos received a B.S. from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and his Ph.D. in immunochemistry from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

About Tonya Williams

Tonya Williams brings extensive public and private sector experience to Evelo. Ms. Williams is currently Head of External Affairs and Corporate Responsibility at SoftBank Group International, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an advisor to Hangar, a public sector investment firm. Ms. Williams previously worked in the White House as Director of Legislative Affairs for then-Vice President Joe Biden, and before that, as Chief of Staff to Congressman G.K. Butterfield in the U.S. House of Representatives. Earlier in her career, Ms. Williams served as Vice President for IP Policy at GlaxoSmithKline, Vice President for Policy & Communications at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and General Counsel to the President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate. Ms. Williams sits on several non-profit boards including the Board of Visitors at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Board of Trustees for the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation, and the Board of Advisors for the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise. Ms. Williams received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About Evelo Biosciences

Evelo Biosciences is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing orally delivered product candidates that are designed to act on the small intestinal axis, SINTAX™, with systemic therapeutic effects. SINTAX plays a central role in governing the immune, metabolic, and neurological systems. The Company’s first product candidates are pharmaceutical preparations of single strains of microbes selected for the potential to offer defined pharmacological properties. Evelo’s therapies have the potential to be effective, safe, and affordable medicines to improve the lives of people with inflammatory diseases.

Evelo currently has three product candidates in development: EDP1815, EDP1867, and EDP2939 for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Evelo is advancing additional product candidates in other disease areas.

For more information, please visit www.evelobio.com and engage with Evelo on LinkedIn.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements including 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 statements concerning the development of our product candidates.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. 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 impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and the continuity of our business; we have incurred significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become profitable; our need for additional funding; our limited operating history; our unproven approach to therapeutic intervention; the lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process of clinical drug development, including potential delays in regulatory approval; our reliance on third parties and collaborators to expand our microbial library, conduct our clinical trials, manufacture our product candidates, and develop and commercialize our product candidates, if approved; our lack of experience in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing our product candidates; failure to compete successfully against other drug companies; protection of our proprietary technology and the confidentiality of our trade secrets; potential lawsuits for, or claims of, infringement of third-party intellectual property or challenges to the ownership of our intellectual property; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; risks associated with international operations; our ability to retain key personnel and to manage our growth; the potential volatility of our common stock; our management and principal stockholders have the ability to control or significantly influence our business; costs and resources of operating as a public company; unfavorable or no analyst research or reports; and securities class action litigation against us.

These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and our other reports filed 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, except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.