WATERTOWN, Mass., March 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTPH ), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibiotics to treat life-threatening multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections, today announced the appointment of Maria Stahl to the position of senior vice president and general counsel.
"Maria's depth of legal experience, particularly her legal leadership in the public biotechnology area supporting corporate compliance, intellectual property and business development efforts, will be valuable to us as the company continues to grow and progress toward commercialization of our Phase 3 antibiotic candidate, eravacycline," said Guy Macdonald , President and CEO of Tetraphase. "We are pleased to have Maria join the senior management team."
Prior to joining Tetraphase, Ms. Stahl served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Idenix Pharmaceuticals since October 2010. Ms. Stahl served as Idenix's vice president, associate general counsel from February 2008 to November 2009 and as assistant general counsel from February 2007 to February 2008. Prior to rejoining Idenix, Ms. Stahl served as general counsel of Zipcar, Inc., a car sharing company, from November 2009 to October 2010. From February 2005 to February 2007, Ms. Stahl served as vice president, corporate counsel of Capital Crossing Bank. Prior to that, Ms. Stahl was at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP from 1997 to 2005. Ms. Stahl has a B.A. from Providence College and a juris doctorate from Yale Law School.
In connection with the hiring of Ms. Stahl, Tetraphase's Board of Directors approved, pursuant to Rule 5635(c)(4) of the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the grant to Ms. Stahl of a stock option to purchase 125,000 shares of Tetraphase's common stock. The option was granted as an inducement equity award outside Tetraphase's 2013 Stock Incentive Plan and was made as an inducement material to Ms. Stahl's acceptance of employment with Tetraphase. The option will have an exercise price equal to the closing price of Tetraphase's common stock on March 4, 2015. The option has a ten year term and vests over four years, with 25% of the original number of shares vesting on March 4, 2016 and an additional 6.25% of the original number of shares vesting at the end of each successive quarter thereafter, subject to Ms. Stahl's continued service with Tetraphase through the applicable vesting dates.
About Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Tetraphase is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using its proprietary chemistry technology to create novel antibiotics for serious and life-threatening bacterial infections, including those caused by many of the multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria highlighted as urgent public health threats by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Tetraphase's lead product candidate, eravacycline, is being developed as a broad-spectrum intravenous and oral antibiotic in the IGNITE program (Investigating Gram-negative Infections Treated with Eravacycline). This program includes two Phase 3 clinical trials: IGNITE 1 for complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and IGNITE 2 for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI). Tetraphase has created more than 3,000 novel tetracycline analogs using its technology platform; in addition to eravacycline, Tetraphase has generated multiple preclinical antibiotic candidates that are currently being evaluated for clinical suitability. Please visit www.tphase.com for more company information.
Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, prospects, plans and objectives, and other statements containing the words "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "plans," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: whether our cash resources will be sufficient to fund our continuing operations for the period anticipated; whether results obtained in preclinical studies and early clinical trials will be indicative of results obtained in future clinical trials; whether eravacycline will advance through the clinical trial process on a timely basis and receive approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies; whether, if eravacycline obtains approval, it will be successfully distributed and marketed; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10, 2014. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of March 5, 2015. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so.
Investor Contacts: Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Teri Dahlman 617-600-7040 Argot Partners Susan Kim 212-600-1902 Media Contact: Sam Brown Inc. Mike Beyer 773-463-4211
