WOBURN, Mass., Nov. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comera Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMRA), a life sciences company developing a new generation of bio-innovative biologic medicines to improve patient delivery, access, safety and convenience, today announced the appointment of Janice Marie McCourt as Chief Business Officer.
In her role at Comera, Ms. McCourt will be responsible for business development, including evaluation and execution of out-licensing, in-licensing and strategic transaction opportunities, and driving the execution of the Company’s commercial strategy. Ms. McCourt will report to Jeffrey Hackman, Chairman and CEO, and serve on the Company’s executive leadership team, working closely with the other members of the executive leadership team to secure commercial partnership opportunities and advance the Company's pipeline of drug candidates.
“We are delighted to welcome Janice to our leadership team as our Chief Business Officer at this critical time of accelerated growth,” said Jeffrey Hackman, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Comera. “Janice has extensive business development and leadership expertise, a successful track record in corporate deal-making and a deep industry network that further strengthens our executive team as we execute on strategies to build value across our internal and partnered programs. We are well-positioned to help maximize the true potential of life-changing biologics by transforming them from intravenous to subcutaneous forms that patients can administer themselves.”
“Comera’s expertise and commitment to bringing innovative solutions to patients coupled with its exciting growth prospects makes this an exciting time to join their team,” said Janice Marie McCourt, Chief Business Officer of Comera. “I am a pharmacist at heart, and I see the clear value and potential of Comera’s technology to lead a compassionate new era in medicine by transforming blockbuster medications from IV to out-patient subcutaneous patient-administered injection, providing patients and their families with more freedom to fully realize the potential of life-changing therapies.”
Ms. McCourt brings more than 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience. Prior to joining Comera, Ms. McCourt was the Chief Business and Corporate Development Officer at Lyvgen Biopharma, a private biotechnology company focused on developing innovative immuno-oncology therapies, where she focused on corporate strategy, business and clinical operations, finance, corporate development, alliance management, negotiation of partnerships, licensing deals and research and development collaborations. Prior to Lyvgen, she led business and corporate development and alliances for Heat Biologics, Edgemont Pharmaceuticals, Agenus, and Amakem Therapeutics.
Ms. McCourt also served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Ingenix, a health care information, technology and research company and a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Prior to Ingenix, she was Vice President of Corporate Development and Marketing at ActivBiotics, a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing antibiotics and combination therapies for the treatment of acute and chronic infections. Ms. McCourt’s prior biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience also includes roles in business development, marketing, medical affairs, training, corporate communications, and investor relations at Praecis Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories, and Takeda. She has led or supported the commercial strategy of more than one hundred products that have advanced from clinical development through regulatory approval globally with billions in sales.
Ms. McCourt holds a B.S. in Pharmacy on a full academic scholarship, with a specialization in Industrial Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and graduated summa cum laude with an MBA from the University of Phoenix in General Management.
Inducement Grant Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)
In connection with Ms. McCourt’s appointment as Chief Business Officer, the Company granted her a non-statutory stock option to purchase 150,000 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $1.36 per share, the closing price on November 8, 2022. The stock options have a ten-year term and vest over four years, with one-fourth vesting on November 1, 2023, and the remaining three-fourths vesting in equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to her continued employment on each applicable vesting date.
The grant was made as an inducement that was a material component of Ms. McCourt's compensation and subsequent acceptance of employment with the Company and was granted as an employment inducement award pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) approved by the Company's Compensation Committee and Board of Directors.
About Comera Life Sciences
Leading a compassionate new era in medicine, Comera Life Sciences is applying a deep knowledge of formulation science and technology to transform essential biologic medicines from intravenous (IV) to subcutaneous (SQ) forms. The goal of this approach is to provide patients with the freedom of self-injectable care, reduce institutional dependency and to put patients at the center of their treatment regimen.
To learn more about the Comera Life Sciences mission, as well as the proprietary SQore™ platform, visit https://comeralifesciences.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws that reflect Comera's plans, estimates, assumptions, and beliefs, including statements about the potential of the Company’s SQore™ platform to transform essential biologic medicines from IV to SQ forms based on the strength of preclinical results from the SEQURUS-2 study. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document, including, but not limited to: risks that the recently completed business combination disrupts the Company’s current plans and ability to retain its employees; the Company’s ability to maintain the listing of its securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market; the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business; the price of the Company’s securities may be volatile due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which the Company plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company’s business and changes in the capital structure; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which the Company operates; the risk that the Company and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize the Company’s products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that we will be unable to continue to attract and retain third-party collaborators, including collaboration partners and licensors; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that the Company is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the risk that the Company is unable to secure regulatory approval for its product candidates; general economic conditions; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 25, 2022 under “Risk Factors” and in other filings that have been made or will be made with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of Comera’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 25, 2022, and other documents filed by Comera from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Comera assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Comera can give no assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
Contacts
Comera Investor
John Woolford
ICR Westwicke
John.Woolford@westwicke.com
Comera Press
ICR Westwicke
Comera@westwicke.com
