Seres Therapeutics Appoints Kurt Graves to Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 2015-- Seres Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRB), a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company, today announced the appointment of Kurt Graves to the company’s board of directors. Mr. Graves, the Chairman, President and CEO of Intarcia Therapeutics, is an industry leader who brings to Seres extensive experience from his 25-year career at top-tier pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He has developed and launched major brands in multiple disease areas and successfully built and managed several of the industry’s largest franchises.

“Kurt has played a key role leading efforts to deliver significant medical advancements that have helped patients around the world, so we are thrilled to have him join us at this exciting time for Seres,” said Roger Pomerantz, M.D., President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Seres. “We continue to advance our Phase 2 study of SER-109 for the prevention of recurrent Clostridium Difficile infection and are gearing up to enter the clinic with our second Ecobiotic® microbiome therapeutic candidate, SER-287 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Kurt’s involvement and insights across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including gastrointestinal diseases, will prove invaluable as we work to become one of the industry’s most influential companies by leading the microbiome revolution and bringing new solutions for serious unmet medical needs.”

Mr. Graves has held the position of Chairman, President and CEO of Intarcia since April 2012, having previously served as the company’s Executive Chairman since 2010 and acting CEO since October 2011. Before joining Intarcia, Mr. Graves served as Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Corporate and Strategic Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Vertex, he spent nearly 10 years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, most recently serving as Global Head of the General Medicines Business and Chief Marketing Officer for the Pharmaceuticals division. Mr. Graves also previously held several commercial and general management positions at Merck and Astra Merck/Astra Pharmaceuticals, primarily focused on leading the Gastrointestinal (GI) Business Unit. Mr. Graves serves as Chairman of the Board of Radius Health, and as a Director on the Boards of both Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Pulmatrix Pharmaceuticals.

“I believe that given its science, platform approach and seasoned leadership team, Seres is poised to deliver transformational therapies for a broad spectrum of indications,” said Mr. Graves. “The microbiome presents a rare opportunity that prompts us to reimagine the way we treat human disease. It encompasses a novel approach, and its potential for impact is significant. I’m excited to join Seres’ Board of Directors, and I look forward to contributing my experiences as the company continues to evolve and advance its vision and attractive pipeline.”

About Seres Therapeutics Inc.

Seres Therapeutics Inc. is a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company developing a novel class of biological drugs that are designed to treat disease by restoring the function of a dysbiotic microbiome.

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 the potential impact of Seres’ microbiome therapeutics platform, beliefs regarding the potential for transformational therapies for a broad spectrum of indications, expectations regarding Seres’ pipeline, and expectations regarding when SER-287 will enter the clinic. 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: we have incurred significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become profitable; our need for additional funding, which may not be available; our limited operating history; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; the unproven approach to therapeutic intervention of our microbiome therapeutics; the lengthy and expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome; potential delays in enrollment of patients which could affect the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; potential delays in regulatory approval, which would impact the ability to commercialize our product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; any fast track or Breakthrough Therapy designation may not lead to faster development, regulatory approval or marketing approval; our possible inability to receive orphan drug designation should we choose to seek it; our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts; our lack of experience in manufacturing our product candidates; the potential failure of our product candidates to be accepted on the market by the medical community; our lack of experience selling, marketing and distributing products and our lack of internal capability to do so; failure to compete successfully against other drug companies; potential competition from biosimilars; failure to obtain marketing approval internationally; post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market; recently enacted or future legislation; compliance with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations; protection of our proprietary technology; protection of the confidentiality of our trade secrets; changes in United States patent law; potential lawsuits for infringement of third-party intellectual property; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; compliance with patent regulations; claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property; claims asserting that we or our employees misappropriated a third-party’s intellectual property or otherwise claiming ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property; adequate protection of our trademarks; ability to attract and retain key executives; managing our growth could result in difficulties; risks associated with international operations; and potential system failures. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on August 10, 2015 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, 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.