OMass Therapeutics announces appointment of new board chair and Series B extension

• Jim Geraghty joins as Independent Director and Chair, bringing US and international experience from Genzyme and as NED and chair of multiple listed biotechs.
• British Patient Capital invests £10 million in a Series B extension bringing total raised in this round to £85.5 million. 

Oxford, United Kingdom – 15 May 2023 – OMass Therapeutics (‘OMass’, or ‘the Company’), a biotechnology company that identifies medicines against highly validated target ecosystems, today announces the appointment of Jim Geraghty as chairman of its board of directors and an additional investment of £10 million from new investor British Patient Capital (BPC) in a Series B extension, bringing the total raised in this round to £85.5 million.

BPC, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank joins Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures and Sanofi Ventures in the round. The additional £10 million investment is from BPC’s Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, a £375million programme which co-invests with private sector investors in innovative, R&D-intensive UK companies. It will be used to support OMass as it continues to progress its pipeline of small molecule therapeutics for rare diseases and immunological conditions targeting solute carriers, complex-bound proteins and GPCRs.

Alongside its recent move to new a purpose-built 16,000ft² flagship site on ARC Oxford campus enabling the co-location of its 55-strong and growing workforce, the additional funds will further support OMass as it becomes a clinical stage company, in line with its strategy outlined at the time of its Series B announcement last year.

Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO, British Patient Capital said: “The UK continues to demonstrate its strength in life sciences with university spinouts like OMass leading the way. Scaling next-generation technology businesses, like OMass, by providing long-term capital for investment is why we established Future Fund: Breakthrough in 2021. We are delighted to be part of this latest funding round which will allow OMass to continue to build a strong pipeline of drugs with the potential to meaningfully improve patient outcomes.”

James (Jim) Geraghty also joins the board of directors to take on the role of independent Chair from Edward Hodgkin Ph.D., who has served as Chairman for nearly five years. Dr. Hodgkin will remain on the board as a Non-Executive Director representing major investor Syncona.

Boston-based Mr. Geraghty is an industry leader with over 35 years of strategic experience including more than 25 years as a senior executive at biotechnology companies developing and commercializing innovative therapies. He is currently chairman on the boards of Orchard Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ORTX) and Pieris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PIRS) and is a member of the boards of Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VYGR), Fulcrum Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FULC) and CANbridge Pharmaceuticals (HKEX:1228). Jim served earlier as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock Ventures, a leading biotech venture fund, and as Senior Vice President Strategy and Business Development at Sanofi. Previously, he served as senior vice president international development at Genzyme, president of Genzyme Europe, and founding president and CEO of Genzyme Transgenics. Mr. Geraghty started his career in healthcare strategy consulting at Bain. A graduate of the Yale Law School, he is also the author of the Nature-reviewed book Inside the Orphan Drug Revolution: The Promise of Patient-Centered Biotechnology.

Jim Geraghty, Chairman of OMass Therapeutics said: “OMass is on a growth trajectory, and I am thrilled to join the board at this exciting time in its journey. OMass’ native mass spectrometry-based platform has great potential, and founder Carol Robinson and CEO Ros Deegan have done great work developing highly promising programs against validated but difficult to drug targets. I look forward to working together with the team and the rest of the board as the company transitions to a development stage company in the near future.”

Ros Deegan, CEO of OMass added: “I am delighted to welcome Jim to our board – his experience in helping to build Genzyme and subsequently with pharma, venture and biotech boards will be invaluable to OMass as we grow, and I look forward to his strategic counsel. I am also pleased to welcome the additional investment and support of British Patient Capital and the confidence this shows in our ambitious growth plans.”