OMass Therapeutics appoints Birgitte Volck as Non-Executive Director

OMass Therapeutics appoints Birgitte Volck as Non-Executive Director

Oxford, United Kingdom – 26 February 2025 – OMass Therapeutics (‘OMass’ or ‘the Company’), a biotechnology company identifying medicines against highly validated target ecosystems such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes, today announces that Birgitte Volck MD, PhD has joined its Board as a non-executive director.

Dr Volck has over 25 years of industry experience spanning R&D leadership, platform innovation, and commercialization, with a strong focus on rare diseases and precision medicine. She currently serves on the Board of Soleno Therapeutics and has held Board roles at many leading biotech companies including Nykode Therapeutics, Wilson Therapeutics, and Ascendis Pharma. 

Her prior executive roles include Executive Vice President and Interim Chief Medical Officer at Ascendis Pharma, where she led clinical development, regulatory affairs, and medical strategy for the company’s rare disease portfolio and President of R&D at Avrobio Inc, where she oversaw the development of the company’s gene therapy programs. She also served as Senior Vice President, Head of R&D, Rare Diseases at GSK, where she helped shape the company’s rare disease portfolio leveraging internal and external partnerships. Other prior executive leadership roles include developing and launching innovative therapies for specialty care and rare disease indications at Sobi, Amgen, and Genzyme. Furthermore, she has contributed to the rare disease and precision medicine field as speaker and external lecturer. Birgitte earned her MD and PhD in Biomarkers for Arthritis from Copenhagen University.

Dr Volck, non-executive Director at OMass Therapeutics commented, “I have been following the OMass story for a number of years and have been impressed by its innovative approach to drug discovery and the study of protein interactions in their native ecosystem, as well as the Company’s leadership and strategic focus. I am passionate about developing new medicines and look forward to using my experience and network to help guide the team as they prepare to enter the clinic with their potentially best-in-class MC2 antagonist for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ACTH-dependent Cushing’s.”

Jim Geraghty, Chairman of OMass Therapeutics’ Board of directors added, “Birgitte is very well known in the rare diseases community and has a wealth of experience in developing drugs in numerous indications. Ros, the Board and I look forward to capitalising on this deep experience as we approach the next step in our journey as a clinical stage company.”

-ENDS-

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About OMass Therapeutics

OMass Therapeutics is a biotechnology company discovering medicines against highly-validated target ecosystems, such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes.

OdyssION™, OMass’ unique drug discovery platform, comprises next-generation native mass spectrometry with novel biochemistry techniques and custom chemistry to interrogate not just a drug target, but also the interaction of the target with its native ecosystem, separate from the confounding complexity of the cell. This unique approach results in cell-system fidelity with cell-free precision.

OMass is advancing a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics in rare diseases and immunological conditions. Its lead programme is a best-in-class MC2 (melanocortin-2) receptor antagonist for the treatment of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) and Cushing’s Syndrome. The focus of the program has been to increase receptor residency time to make OMass’ antagonists resistant to competition by the endogenous ligand, thereby avoiding loss of efficacy in the face of rising adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels due to reductions in glucocorticoid supplementation for CAH or progression of Cushing’s Syndrome.

Headquartered in Oxford, UK, OMass has raised over $160M (£129M) from a top-tier international investor syndicate including Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, Sanofi Ventures and British Patient Capital.

To learn more, please visit www.omass.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

source: OMass Therapeutics