ObsEva Expands Leadership Team as it prepares for IPO

ObsEva is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for serious conditions that impact a woman’s reproductive health and pregnancy. ObsEva has appointed Timothy M. Adams as the new CFO. Mr. Adams has over 30 years of operating experience in emerging growth companies and most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Demandware, Inc., an enterprise cloud commerce solutions company acquired by Salesforce in 2016. Previously, Mr. Adams served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of athenahealth, Inc., Chief Investment Officer of Constitution Medical Investors and Chief Financial Officer at a number of publicly traded companies including Cytyc Corporation, a market leader in women's health diagnostic and device products, and Digex, Inc.

ObsEva is also pleased to announce that Frank Verwiel, M.D., who has served on the company’s Board of Directors since early 2016, has been elected Chairperson of the Board. Additionally, Barbara Duncan, formerly of Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has joined ObsEva’s Board of Directors as the Chair of the Audit Committee.

“We are very excited to be welcoming Tim to ObsEva as we expand our reach into the United States in 2017,” said Ernest Loumaye, M.D., Ph.D., ObsEva’s CEO and Co-Founder. “As we enter this new chapter for the company the addition of Frank’s and Barbara’s leadership and knowledge on our Board of Directors will be invaluable as we continue to drive forward the development of potential novel, best-in-class women’s reproductive health and pregnancy therapeutics.”

Last week ObsEva announced the completion of a Phase 1 single and multiple ascending dose study of OBE022 for the treatment of preterm labor. Based on preliminary data from the single and multiple doses administered in the Phase 1 study, OBE022 was observed to be readily absorbed and converted into the active stable metabolite OBE002. Exposure to OBE002 increased with dose of OBE022 and reached clinically meaningful exposure levels within an hour after administration, which is an important feature for orally administered preterm labor treatments. Median OBE002 half-lives were observed to be between 7 and 15 hours, which ObsEva believes is an adequate half-life for OBE022 to have once or twice daily dosing. Single and multiple administrations of OBE022 were well tolerated at all doses. There were no serious adverse events and no clinically relevant changes in safety parameters.

Jean-Pierre Gotteland, CSO of ObsEva stated: “The successful completion of the OBE022 Phase 1 first-in-women study is paving the way for the further evaluation of OBE022 in a Phase 2 study in 2017 to assess its safety and efficacy to delay birth after oral administration in pregnant women who face preterm labor and potentially preterm delivery in weeks 24 to 34 of pregnancy.”

(Press release)