Omega Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMGA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the first systematic approach to using mRNA therapeutics as a new class of programmable epigenetic medicines by leveraging its OMEGA Epigenomic Programing platform, today announced the appointment of Rainer Boehm as an independent director to its Board of Directors. Mr. Boehm will serve on Omega’s audit and compensation committees.
“Rainer’s growth-oriented perspective and global strategic management experience will be invaluable to Omega in this next phase of the Company’s trajectory,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chairman of the Board for Omega Therapeutics and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flagship Pioneering. “I look forward to working closely with him as Omega continues to advance its clinical pipeline and demonstrate the broad capabilities of its pioneering drug development platform.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Rainer to our Board and look forward to leveraging his significant drug development expertise, strategic thought-leadership and executive management skills as we work to advance our new class of programmable epigenetic medicines,” said Mahesh Karande, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega. “Rainer is a recognized industry leader with a strong track record of working with and growing innovative clinical stage companies and has extensive experience managing global drug development and commercialization.”
“Omega is pioneering a new class of programmable mRNA therapeutics that have the potential to transform the way we approach difficult-to-treat diseases,” said Mr. Boehm. “This is an exciting time for the Company, and I look forward to partnering with this accomplished board of directors and management team and sharing insights as they continue to pave new roads through the discovery and development of epigenomic controllers for patients in need.”
Mr. Boehm brings over 30 years of clinical and managerial experience to Omega. He held several senior management positions during his extensive tenure at Novartis Pharma AG and its predecessor, CIBA-Geigy, spanning from 1988 to 2017, most recently as Chief Commercial & Medical Affairs Officer. He was a key figure in the successful establishment of Novartis Oncology. He oversaw the launch and life cycle management of many blockbuster brands in different geographies globally, amongst them Femara, Zometa and Glivec in oncology, as well as Cosentyx and Entresto and the immunology and cardiovascular disease areas. Prior to joining Novartis, he served as unit head at the Psychiatric Hospital in Zwiefalten, Germany. Mr. Boehm serves on the boards of Cellectis SA (Nasdaq: CLLS), Humanigen Inc. (Nasdaq: HGEN), BioCopy, AG (private) and Berlin Cures, AG (private). He holds a medical degree from the University of Ulm in Germany, and a Master of Business Administration from Schiller University, Strasbourg Campus in France. Recently he commenced a Master of Public Health program at the Universities of Basel / Bern / Zurich in Switzerland.
Omega Therapeutics, founded by Flagship Pioneering, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the first systematic approach to use mRNA therapeutics as a new class of programmable epigenetic medicines. The company’s OMEGA Epigenomic Programming™ platform harnesses the power of epigenetics, the mechanism that controls gene expression and every aspect of an organism’s life from cell genesis, growth, and differentiation to cell death. Using a suite of technologies, paired with Omega’s process of systematic, rational, and integrative drug design, the OMEGA platform enables control of fundamental epigenetic processes to correct the root cause of disease by returning aberrant gene expression to a normal range without altering native nucleic acid sequences. Omega’s modular and programmable mRNA medicines, Omega Epigenomic Controllers™, target specific epigenomic loci within insulated genomic domains, EpiZips™, from amongst thousands of unique, mapped, and validated genome-wide DNA-sequences, with high specificity to durably tune single or multiple genes to treat and cure diseases through Precision Genomic Control™. Omega is currently advancing a broad pipeline of development candidates spanning a range of disease areas, including oncology, regenerative medicine, multigenic diseases including immunology, and select monogenic diseases, including alopecia.
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