News Release Details

PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC) (“PureTech Health”), an advanced biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines for dysfunctions of the Brain-Immune-Gut (BIG) axis, today announced that its affiliate, Akili Interactive, has appointed Santosh Shanbhag as chief financial officer and Jacqueline Studer as senior vice president and general counsel.

Shanbhag is a senior financial executive with 20 years of experience. Most recently, he comes from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he served as vice president and head of international finance and accounting and was responsible for the company’s international business operations for key markets. 

Studer brings decades of experience providing legal strategy to large and emerging growth healthcare companies. She was previously with IDEXX Laboratories, where she served as corporate vice president, general counsel and secretary. In this role, she was responsible for the legal, compliance and regulatory organizations during the company’s global expansion.

The full text announcement from Akili is as follows:

Akili Grows Leadership Team with Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel Appointments

Santosh Shanbhag joins Akili as Chief Financial Officer Jacqueline Studer joins Akili as Senior Vice President and General Counsel

BOSTON, April 11, 2019 -- Akili Interactive (“Akili”), a leading digital medicine company creating prescription treatments for people living with cognitive dysfunction, today announced the addition of two new executives to the Akili leadership team. Santosh Shanbhag has been named Chief Financial Officer and Jacqueline Studer has been named Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Akili.

“Santosh and Jackie are talented executives whose extensive business strategy and diverse industry experience make them the perfect fit for our growing business,” said Eddie Martucci, CEO of Akili.  “They bring tremendous financial and legal expertise to the company which will help us continue to challenge the status quo of medicine on our path to deliver new hope to patients living with cognitive dysfunction.”

Shanbhag is a senior financial executive with 20 years of experience leading financial operations for US and international organizations and executing complex business programs for transformative healthcare companies. Prior to joining Akili, Shanbhag held senior finance leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Vice President and Head of International Finance and Accounting where he helped build-out the international business and secure reimbursement for novel medicines in key international markets.  Prior to Vertex, Shanbhag served in positions of increasing responsibility at Capgemini Consulting and Texas Instruments.  He holds a MS in Management & Engineering from MIT and Sloan School of Management, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“I’m excited to be an Akilian and look forward to helping the company scale and globalize its business as Akili delivers on its promise to redefine medicine and the healthcare experience,” said Shanbhag.

Studer has decades of experience providing legal strategy and support to large and emerging growth healthcare companies. Prior to joining Akili, she served as Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at IDEXX Laboratories, where she led the legal, compliance and regulatory organizations and was charged with building a legal, privacy and regulatory organization and framework to support the company’s rapid global expansion. She held prior roles leading the legal, privacy and compliance organizations at Blue Health Intelligence, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, and various leadership positions at GE Healthcare including as General Counsel of the GE Healthcare IT & Performance Solutions division. Studer holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Purdue University and a JD from Columbia University School of Law.

“With its engaging technology and ground-breaking science, Akili has a unique opportunity to personalize the treatment of cognitive dysfunction,” said Studer. “I am honored to be a part of the Akili team as we work to change how patients interact with their medicine company.”

About Akili

Akili is a leading digital medicine company combining scientific and clinical rigor with the ingenuity of the tech industry to reinvent medicine. Akili is pioneering the development of prescription digital treatments with direct therapeutic activity, delivered not through a pill but through a high-quality action video game experience. Akili is advancing a broad pipeline of programs to treat cognitive deficiency and improve symptoms associated with medical conditions across neurology and psychiatry, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder and various inflammatory diseases. The Company is also developing complementary and integrated clinical monitors and measurement-based care applications. Akili was co-founded by PureTech Health (PRTC.L) and is a founding member of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance. For more information on Akili, please visit: www.akiliinteractive.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC) is an advanced biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines for dysfunctions of the Brain-Immune-Gut (BIG) Axis. The Company has developed deep insights into the connection between these systems and the resulting role in diseases that have proven resistant to established therapeutic approaches. By harnessing this emerging field of human biology, PureTech Health is developing new categories of medicines with the potential to have great impact on people with serious diseases.

PureTech Health is advancing a rich pipeline of innovative therapies across two divisions: its Affiliates and its Internal labs. PureTech’s Affiliates include seven clinical-stage platforms with two product candidates that have been filed with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review and other novel pre-clinical programmes. These Affiliates are developing ground-breaking platforms and therapeutic candidates in collaboration with some of the world’s leading experts.

PureTech’s Internal research and development is centred on tissue-selective immunomodulation for the treatment of oncology, autoimmune, and CNS-related disorders, with a near-term focus on targeting newly-discovered, foundational immunosuppressive mechanisms in oncology and novel approaches that harness the lymphatic infrastructure.

For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter @puretechh.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.