Omega Therapeutics Appoints Chris Schade to its Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Omega Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMGA) (“Omega”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines, today announced the appointment of Chris Schade to its Board of Directors. Mr. Schade brings over 30 years of experience across the biopharma industry to support the Company’s long-term growth objectives.

“We are thrilled to welcome Chris to Omega’s Board of Directors as we advance our pipeline through key milestones in 2023 and beyond,” said Noubar Afeyan, Omega co-founder and Chairman of the Board. “His diverse experience and insights will play a key role in solidifying Omega’s long-term vision to pioneer a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines. We look forward to his contributions to Omega’s continued success.”

“Chris’s deep industry experience in building companies, strategic planning, financing, and business development will be instrumental to the Company,” added Omega President and CEO Mahesh Karande. “His counsel and expertise will help us to build and scale the Company as we continue to advance our landmark Phase 1/2 MYCHELANGELO™ I trial and preclinical programs to the clinic and work to realize the potential of the OMEGA platform to create transformative medicines for patients.”

Mr. Schade added, “Omega has made tremendous progress developing its platform capabilities and is poised to enter a critical period of growth. I look forward to working with Omega’s board and terrific leadership team to help build on the Company’s strong foundation and accomplish its ambitious vision of harnessing the power of epigenetics to transform human medicine in service of patients.”

Mr. Schade is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience across private and public biopharma companies, including proven leadership in several executive roles. He joined Flagship Pioneering as a Growth Partner in January of this year. Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Office of Aprea Therapeutics, where he has been serving as a member of the board since 2016 and as Chairman of the board since 2020. Prior to Aprea, he held leadership positions at Novira, Omthera Pharmaceuticals and Medarex. In addition to industry expertise, Schade brings extensive corporate finance and capital markets experience from the investment banking industry, with roles at Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Chase & Co. He also serves on the board of directors of Sapience Therapeutics, Inc., Integra LifeSciences, Inc., Ring Therapeutics and Alltrna Therapeutics. He received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.

About Omega Therapeutics

Omega Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines to treat or cure a broad range of diseases. By pre-transcriptionally modulating gene expression, Omega’s approach enables precision epigenomic control of nearly all human genes, including historically undruggable and difficult-to-treat targets, without altering native nucleic acid sequences. Founded in 2017 by Flagship Pioneering following breakthrough research by world-renowned experts in the field of epigenetics, Omega is led by a seasoned and accomplished leadership team with a track record of innovation and operational excellence. The Company is committed to revolutionizing genomic medicine and has a diverse pipeline of therapeutic candidates derived from its OMEGA platform spanning oncology, regenerative medicine, multigenic diseases including immunology, and select monogenic diseases.

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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 progress of our Phase 1/2 MYCHELANGELO^TM I clinical trial and our preclinical studies; expectations surrounding the potential of our development candidates, including OTX-2002; and Mr. Schade’s impact on the Company. 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 novel technology on which our product candidates are based makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of preclinical and clinical development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if at all; the substantial development and regulatory risks associated with epigenomic controllers due to the novel and unprecedented nature of this new category of medicines; our limited operating history; the incurrence of significant losses and the fact that we expect to continue to incur significant additional losses for the foreseeable future; our need for substantial additional financing; our investments in research and development efforts that further enhance the OMEGA platform, and their impact on our results; uncertainty regarding preclinical development, especially for a new class of medicines such as epigenomic controllers; potential delays in and unforeseen costs arising from our clinical trials; the fact that our product candidates may be associated with serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their regulatory development, prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences; the impact of increased demand for the manufacture of mRNA and LNP based vaccines to treat COVID-19 on our development plans; difficulties manufacturing the novel technology on which our OEC candidates are based; our ability to adapt to rapid and significant technological change; our reliance on third parties for the manufacture of materials; our ability to successfully acquire and establish our own manufacturing facilities and infrastructure; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers for lipid excipients used in our product candidates; our ability to advance our product candidates to clinical development; and our ability to obtain, maintain, enforce and adequately protect our intellectual property rights. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, and our other filings 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.