Spero Announces Appointment of Frank Thomas to its Board of Directors and Promotions within Leadership Team

Cristina Larkin promoted to Chief Operating Officer

Timothy Keutzer Promoted to Senior Vice President, Development

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 06, 2017 -- Spero Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company founded to develop novel therapies for the treatment of bacterial infections, today announced the appointment of Frank Thomas to its Board of Directors. In this new role, Mr. Thomas will also serve as the Chair of the Audit Committee. The Company also announced key promotions within its leadership team.

“We are delighted to welcome Frank to the Board of Directors,” said Ankit Mahadevia, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Spero. “We look forward to leveraging his substantial industry experience as we advance our robust clinical-stage pipeline. Frank brings significant financial acumen into developmental-stage biotech companies with innovative platforms and programs. Importantly, Frank shares our passion for improving the lives of patients with serious bacterial infections.”

“Spero’s pipeline of complementary approaches to major unmet needs in bacterial infectious disease positions it as a premier company in the field,” Mr. Thomas said. “I’m thrilled to join Spero’s Board at a time of accelerating momentum for the Company.”

Mr. Thomas brings almost 20 years of experience in a leadership role at high growth life sciences companies, including significant skill and expertise at the executive level. He served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and previously served as AMAG’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. During his six years at AMAG, he oversaw the operational and commercial transformation of the company from a single-product company in 2011 to one that generated more than $500 million in sales across a portfolio of products and services in 2016.  Prior to AMAG, he held executive positions at multiple commercial and development stage companies in the biopharmaceutical space, including Critical Therapeutics and Esperion Therapeutics. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and is Audit Committee Chair at Zafgen and was a member of the Board of Directors at Critical Therapeutics and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.  Mr. Thomas holds a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

In addition, Spero announced the promotion of Cristina Larkin to Chief Operating Officer and the promotion of Timothy Keutzer to Senior Vice President, Development. “Spero has built a talented and cohesive team that has helped us build and advance a differentiated clinical-stage pipeline. Cristina and Tim have added tremendous value to Spero during their tenure, and embody the leadership, expertise, and values that the Spero team brings to our mission of building a sustainable scientific, clinical, and commercial enterprise addressing significant unmet needs for patients with bacterial infections” said Dr. Mahadevia.

Ms. Larkin has served as Spero’s Chief Commercial Officer since March 2016. Prior to joining Spero, she served as Assistant Vice President for Actavis, formerly Forest Laboratories. During that time, Ms. Larkin led the commercial hospital antibiotic franchise team and was responsible for the U.S. launch and execution strategy for several antibiotics, including Avycaz, Dalvance, and Teflaro. 

Mr. Keutzer has served as Vice President of Development since September 2015.  Prior to joining Spero, he was Vice President of Program and Portfolio Management at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. While at Cubist, he was the program leader for ceftolozane/tazobactam, which progressed rapidly from Phase 1 to Phase 3, and was approved in the U.S. in December 2014. He also had responsibility for the commercial supply chain at Cubist.

About Spero
Spero Therapeutics is a multi-asset, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and commercializing novel treatments for multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial infections.

Spero is advancing SPR994, which is designed to be the first broad-spectrum oral antibiotic for use in adults to treat MDR Gram-negative infections.

Spero is also advancing its Potentiator Platform, which it believes will enable it to develop drugs that will expand the spectrum and potency of existing antibiotics, including formerly inactive antibiotics, against Gram-negative bacteria.  SPR741, Spero’s lead potentiator product candidate, is a clinical-stage IV-administered agent that has demonstrated in vitro an ability to potentiate over two dozen existing antibiotics by expanding their activity against Gram-negative pathogens.  SPR206, Spero’s preclinical potentiator product candidate, is designed to also have antibiotic activity as a single agent against certain MDR and extremely drug resistant (XDR) bacterial strains.

Spero is also developing SPR720, its novel oral therapy product candidate designed for the treatment of pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections.

For more information, please visit https://sperotherapeutics.com.

Spero Media Contact:

Spero Investor Contact:
Stern Investor Relations, Inc.
Beth DelGiacco
Vice President
212-362-1200
[email protected]