Selecta Biosciences Appoints Carrie S. Cox as Chairman of its Board of Directors

– Former Chairman, CEO, and senior executive at numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies brings strong clinical and commercial experience to support advancement of the Company’s ImmTOR™ platform –

WATERTOWN, Mass., Nov. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (NASDAQ: SELB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the full potential of biologic therapies based on its immune tolerance platform technology, ImmTOR™, today announced the appointment of Carrie S. Cox to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.

“Ms. Cox has a demonstrated track record of success working with both biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. Her addition to our Board of Directors is extraordinarily valuable, as we advance the ImmTOR platform for our lead program, SEL-212, and bring it into the clinic for gene therapy in 2020,” said Carsten Brunn, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Selecta Biosciences. “We are also extremely grateful for the exceptional contributions made by our Co-Founder and outgoing Chairman, Dr. Omid Farokhzad. He established the infrastructure and operational foundation of Selecta, and it is a direct result of his tireless dedication that we are now poised to move to the next stage of our business strategy and advance the ImmTOR platform.”

"I am thrilled with the progress of the ImmTOR platform and I look forward to continuing to work with the Selecta team as a scientific advisor," said outgoing Chairman, Dr. Farokhzad. "Ms. Cox is an experienced biopharmaceutical executive uniquely suited to lead our Board into the next phase of Selecta’s growth, and we are excited to welcome her to the team.”

“The opportunity to be part of a pioneering effort to enhance the application of ImmTOR is of high interest to me,” added Ms. Cox. “As SEL-212 advances into a late-stage asset, and we see the potentially groundbreaking application of ImmTOR in gene therapy, I’m extremely excited to begin this journey and work in collaboration with my Board colleagues to continue the research into the potential application of ImmTOR for patients.”

Ms. Cox currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Texas Instruments, Cardinal Health, and holds the position of Chair of electroCore. She has also served on the Board of Celgene and held the positions of Lead Director for Texas Instruments, Chairman of Array Biopharma, and Chairman of Prism Pharmaceuticals. She has been named to FORTUNE Magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” six times, and her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, and in the New York Times bestseller, The Profit Zone. Most recently, Ms. Cox served as Executive Chair of Humacyte, Inc., where she also held the title of CEO from 2010-2018. From 2003 until 2009, she held the positions of Executive Vice President and President, Global Pharmaceuticals, at Schering-Plough. During her tenure, she oversaw the company’s global prescription pharmaceutical business, which generated approximately $16 billion in annual sales, with a 5-year CAGR of 22%. Previous roles include President, Global Prescription Business at Pharmacia Corporation, and Senior Vice President of Global Business Management at Pharmacia & Upjohn.

About Selecta Biosciences, Inc.

Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the full potential of biologic therapies based on its immune tolerance technology (ImmTOR) platform. Selecta plans to combine ImmTOR with a range of biologic therapies for rare and serious diseases that require new treatment options due to high immunogenicity. The company’s current proprietary pipeline includes ImmTOR-powered therapeutic enzyme and gene therapy product candidates. SEL-212, the company’s lead product candidate, is being developed to treat chronic refractory gout patients and resolve their debilitating symptoms, including flares and gouty arthritis. Selecta’s proprietary gene therapy product candidates are in preclinical development for certain rare inborn errors of metabolism and incorporate ImmTOR with the goal of addressing barriers to repeat administration. Selecta is based in Watertown, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit .

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about the future expectations, plans and prospects of Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (“the company”), including without limitation, statements regarding the progress of the clinical development of SEL-212, the progress and timing of clinical development for ImmTOR for gene therapy, expectations surrounding the enrollment and design of the Phase 2 head-to-head (COMPARE) clinical trial comparing SEL-212 and Krystexxa, timing of related data readouts and the ability of the COMPARE results to inform the planned Phase 3 clinical trial of SEL-212, the anticipated timing of the planned Phase 3 clinical trial, whether the head-to-head trial with Krystexxa will demonstrate superiority, the unique proprietary technology platform of the company and the unique proprietary platform of its partners, the potential of SEL-212 to fulfill unmet needs in chronic refractory gout patients including sustained SUA reduction, reduced flares, and once monthly dosing, the potential of ImmTOR to enable re-dosing of AAV gene therapy and the potential of ImmTOR generally, anticipated achievement of key milestones for the company’s chronic refractory gout and gene therapy programs, the company’s commercial plans, the ability of the company’s ImmTOR platform, including SEL-212, to unlock the full potential of biologic therapies, the potential of SEL-212 to treat chronic refractory gout patients and resolve their debilitating symptoms, the potential treatment applications for product candidates utilizing the ImmTOR platform in areas such as enzyme therapy and gene therapy, the company’s plan to apply its ImmTOR technology platform to a range of biologics for rare and serious diseases, the potential of the ImmTOR technology platform generally and the company’s ability to grow its strategic partnerships, the sufficiency of the company’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “hypothesize,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation, completion and cost of clinical trials including their uncertain outcomes, the availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a particular clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, the unproven approach of the company’s ImmTOR technology, potential delays in enrollment of patients, undesirable side effects of the company’s product candidates, its reliance on third parties to manufacture its product candidates and to conduct its clinical trials, changes to the company’s strategy or the inability to effectively implement the company’s strategic plan, the company’s inability to maintain its existing or future collaborations, licenses or contractual relationships and, specifically, to reach an agreement regarding an acceptable amendment of the company’s exclusive patent license agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, its inability to protect its proprietary technology and intellectual property, management’s ability to perform as expected, potential delays in regulatory approvals, the availability of funding sufficient for its foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements, the company’s recurring losses from operations and negative cash flows from operations raise substantial doubt regarding its ability to continue as a going concern, substantial fluctuation in the price of its common stock, and other important factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, and in other filings that the company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the company’s views only as of the date of its publication and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The company specifically disclaims any intention to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.

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