Evelo Biosciences Expands Executive Leadership Team

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Evelo Biosciences, a biotechnology company pioneering the therapeutic modality of monoclonal microbials, today announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the appointment of Duncan McHale, M.D., Ph.D. as chief medical officer and Michael Garcia-Webb, Ph.D. as head of people and operational excellence.

"I am pleased to welcome Duncan and Michael at an exciting time for the company," said Simba Gill, chief executive officer of Evelo. "Duncan will lead clinical development and translational medicine as we advance several monoclonal microbials toward planned clinical trials across several diseases in 2018 and beyond. People, culture and operational excellence are critical drivers of our success and Michael will have prime responsibility in these areas."

"I am excited to join Evelo as our platform continues to rapidly lead to the discovery of multiple product candidates," said Duncan McHale, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer at Evelo. "We have planned our first monoclonal microbial trials with innovative designs and cutting-edge biomarker programs across specific oncology and inflammatory indications with the goal of validating monoclonal microbials as a new class of broadly applicable, safe and effective therapeutics."

Dr. McHale joins Evelo from UCB, where he was head of Global Exploratory Development, responsible for the early development programs of the UCB pipeline, two of which progressed into late stage development, including Bimekizumab, which is now in Phase 3 trials. Prior to UCB, McHale held roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer and AstraZeneca including European Head of Translational Molecular Medicine at Pfizer, head of Clinical Personalised Healthcare and head of Translational Sciences at AstraZeneca. While at Pfizer, he worked on the early development of Maraviroc and while at AstraZeneca, he was involved in the development of Iressa and Anifrolumab, which is currently in Phase 3 studies. He is a member of the UK Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons Stratified Medicine Governance Committee. Dr. McHale is trained as a clinical geneticist and earned his Ph.D. from Leeds University.

Dr. Garcia-Webb joins Evelo from Biogen, where he spent 5 years working in various commercial roles. Most recently, he led a cross functional team responsible for global market development for Alzheimer's disease. Prior to that, he was the global brand lead for TYSABRI, a leading $2B therapy for multiple sclerosis, and was responsible for driving global marketing strategy and tactics through local affiliates. Before Biogen, Dr. Garcia-Webb spent 5 years at McKinsey as a management consultant where he helped clients in the pharmaceutical and medical product industries with strategy and execution, organizational design, change management and business development. Dr. Garcia-Webb earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Evelo Biosciences

Evelo Biosciences is dedicated to improving the lives of patients globally through the development of a new modality of medicines – monoclonal microbials. Evelo's monoclonal microbial product candidates are orally delivered and are intended to modulate systemic immunology and biology through direct interactions with human cells in the gut. Evelo believes they have the potential to be broadly applicable across many diseases – including autoimmune, immunoinflammatory, metabolic, neurological, neuroinflammatory diseases and cancer. Monoclonal microbials have the potential to fundamentally change traditional models of drug discovery and development. By finding and selecting naturally occurring monoclonal microbials with defined therapeutic effects, Evelo is focused on improving the speed, cost and success of drug discovery and development. Evelo's platform targets pharmacological intervention at all stages of disease with naturally occurring monoclonal microbials, which Evelo believes will be safe and effective. Evelo Biosciences was conceived and created within VentureLabs®, Flagship Pioneering's institutional innovation foundry and launched by Flagship in 2015.

For more information, please visit www.evelobio.com.

SOURCE Evelo Biosciences

Related Links

http://www.evelobio.com