Kaleido Biosciences, a clinical-stage healthcare company leading the development of novel chemistries that drive functions of the microbiome organ, today announced that Alison Lawton, Kaleido’s president and chief operating officer (COO), has been appointed to succeed Michael Bonney as chief executive officer. Joshua Brumm has been promoted to COO and will continue to serve as Kaleido’s chief financial officer. In addition, Mr. Bonney will maintain a leadership role at Kaleido as executive chairman of the Board of Directors.
“One of my top priorities when I joined Kaleido was to build an exceptional team with broad and deep experience to lead a rapidly advancing organization such as ours,” said Mr. Bonney. “In the three years since our inception, we have generated a library of more than 700 novel compounds, conducted seven human clinical studies with our Microbiome Metabolic Therapies, and raised $165 million, including our recent Series C financing. We are also well positioned to initiate Phase 2 clinical studies planned for 2019. With all that we have accomplished, I believe this is the ideal time for Alison to become CEO while I maintain my commitment to the company as executive chairman. Alison and Josh are both proven leaders who bring tremendous energy and expertise to Kaleido, and I look forward to continuing to work with them. They will be instrumental in ensuring Kaleido realizes the exciting potential of our revolutionary approach to leveraging the microbiome to treat disease and improve human health.”
Prior to joining Kaleido, Ms. Lawton was COO at Aura Biosciences, and she previously held the same role at OvaScience in 2013. She spent more than 20 years at Genzyme Corporation and Genzyme Sanofi. She served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sanofi (Genzyme) Biosurgery, where she was responsible for the surgical, cell therapy and regenerative medicine, and orthopedics franchises. Earlier, as SVP of Global Market Access for Genzyme, Ms. Lawton was involved in leading global functional organizations, including regulatory affairs and quality systems, public policy, health outcomes and strategic pricing, product safety and risk management. Additionally, Ms. Lawton worked for seven years in the U.K. at Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis. She previously served two terms as the industry representative on the Food & Drug Administration’s Cell & Gene Therapy Advisory Committee. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at ProQR Therapeutics and Verastem, Inc., and was previously a director on the boards of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, and Magenta Therapeutics.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Kaleido at an important time in its evolution,” said Ms. Lawton. “We are advancing a robust pipeline in several disease areas, transforming product development and building an organization committed to fostering a strong culture. We have the potential to make an extraordinary impact on patients’ lives and offer solutions that address needs across the healthcare continuum. I am excited to continue to work with our strong leadership team and dedicated employees to enhance our science, technology and platform to lead a revolution in human health.”
Kaleido is currently developing treatments for eleven conditions. In June of 2018, the company announced that it had raised $101 million in Series C financing.
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