PureTech Appoints Robert Lyne as Chief Executive Officer

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 18, 2025--

PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a hub-and-spoke biotherapeutics company dedicated to giving life to science and transforming innovation into value, today announces that the Board of Directors has appointed Robert Lyne as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.

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Robert Lyne commented: “I’m honored to lead PureTech as CEO at such an important moment in its evolution. Over the past two years, I’ve seen first-hand the strength of our programs, the talent of our team, and the power of our differentiated model. I’m keen to build on this foundation, working closely with the Board to drive the next phase of execution as we advance transformative therapies for patients and deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

“Our immediate focus is on securing the funding needed to advance our newest Founded Entity, Celea Therapeutics, following the successful End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This process is progressing, and we expect to close within the first half of 2026, after which PureTech’s operational run rate will reduce significantly. In parallel, we are also actively pursuing financing in 2026 for Gallop Oncology, as the strong initial topline data continue to mature, and the program advances to the next stage of development.

“Going forward, we intend to operate with a streamlined structure and significantly reduced overhead. This will be combined with a disciplined investment posture, pursuing focused innovation initiatives that can be advanced to key inflection points with relatively modest spend to improve our return on capital. Once Celea is fully financed, we expect to evaluate the most effective means of delivering value to shareholders, including potential capital returns, as part of an integrated strategy that continues targeted and impactful innovation. In the meantime, our priority is preserving capital, maintaining flexibility, and positioning PureTech for value creation.”

Sharon Barber-Lui, Interim Chair of PureTech’s Board of Directors, said: “We are pleased to appoint Rob as PureTech’s CEO. As Interim CEO, Rob has demonstrated strong leadership, strategic clarity, and a deep understanding of the business and key stakeholders. Rob’s appointment positions the Company to execute against a clear plan to sharpen strategic and operational focus and optimize shareholder returns. The Board supports Rob’s disciplined approach to maintaining a lean operating model whilst concentrating on capital-efficient innovation to maximize shareholder value. The Board is confident that Rob is the right person to lead PureTech forward.”

Mr. Lyne has served as Interim CEO since July 2025 and joined PureTech in January 2024 as Chief Portfolio Officer. During his time as Interim CEO, Mr. Lyne has provided strong leadership for the business, overseeing progress across PureTech’s programs and advancing strategic and operational priorities. He is an experienced leader of UK-listed life science innovation and venture capital companies, having previously served as CEO of Arix Bioscience plc. Mr. Lyne brings more than a decade of experience in senior leadership roles at London-listed life science companies, with a strong track record in governance and executive team leadership. He has been involved in over 80 venture capital financings across Europe and North America as well as multiple portfolio exits and initial public offerings.

Mr. Lyne was previously a director of Arix Bioscience plc within the past five years. There are no other details to be disclosed in respect of Mr. Lyne’s appointment pursuant to LR 9.6.13R.

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health is a hub-and-spoke biotherapeutics company dedicated to giving life to science and transforming innovation into value. We do this through a proven, capital-efficient R&D model focused on opportunities with validated pharmacology and untapped potential to address significant patient needs. This strategy has produced dozens of therapeutic candidates, including three that have received U.S. FDA approval. By identifying, shaping, and de-risking these high-conviction assets, and scaling them through dedicated structures backed by external capital, we accelerate their path to patients while creating sustainable value for shareholders.

For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) @puretechh.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements that relate to our expectations around our therapeutic candidates and approach towards addressing major diseases, our plans to advance our programs and deliver on our milestones, our future plans, prospects, developments, and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks, uncertainties and other important factors described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the SEC and in our other regulatory filings. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the Company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE UK VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU 596/2014) AS IT FORMS PART OF UK LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED

Robert Lyne, Chief Executive Officer of PureTech

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares slipped further on Thursday after declines for AI stocks dragged the U.S. market to its worst day in nearly a month.

Traders were waiting for an update later in the day on U.S. inflation, and on a decision Friday by Japan’s central bank on interest rates. The Bank of Japan is expected to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage point to tamp down price pressures, despite a contraction in the July-September quarter.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1% to 49,001.50, with technology shares leading the decline.

Technology and telecoms giant SoftBank sank 4%. Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron lost 3.2% while chip testing equipment maker Advantest dropped 3.3%.

Honda Motor Corp. fell 2.2% after reports said it was suspending production at some plants in Japan and China due to shortages of computer chips.

South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.5% to 3,994.51, also pulled lower by selling of shares in electronics companies and automakers. LG Electronics declined 3.1%, while Samsung Electronics lost 0.3%.

Chinese markets were mixed as Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 25,385.93, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.3% higher, to 3,880.49.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,588.20.

Later Thursday, the U.S. government will report on inflation last month. Economists expect that report to show prices for U.S. consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 6,721.43 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.5% to 47,885.97. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8% to 22,693.32.

Slightly more stocks rose within the S&P 500 than fell, but they got drowned out by the drops for companies in the artificial-intelligence industry.

The sector is being pressured by questions over whether Big Tech companies' share prices have shot too high, whether all the investment in AI will be profitable and productive enough to justify the costs, and by worries over stratospheric levels of debt some companies are taking on to pay for it all.

Broadcom dropped 4.5%, Oracle fell 5.4% and CoreWeave sank 7.1%. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become Wall Street’s most influential stock because of its tremendous size, fell 3.8% and was the day's heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

Power companies that jumped earlier in the year on expectations for stronger demand from electricity-sucking data centers also lost some of their shine. Constellation Energy fell 6.7%.

On the winning side of Wall Street were oil companies, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela.

That sent the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude higher by 1.2% to $55.94. just a day after it sank to its lowest level since 2021.

Early Thursday, U.S. crude was up 51 cents at $56.32 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 49 cents to $60.17 per barrel.

It had climbed 1.3% on Wednesday.

That in turn helped ConocoPhillips rise 4.6%. Devon Energy rallied 5.3%, and Exxon Mobil climbed 2.4%.

Oil prices have been falling for most of this year on expectations that companies are pumping more than enough crude to meet the world’s demand.

Netflix added 0.2% after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board said it still recommends shareholders approve a buyout offer from the streaming giant for its Warner Bros. business, rather than a competing hostile bid from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.

Warner Bros. Discovery fell 2.4%, while Paramount Skydance dropped 5.4%.

In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.90 Japanese yen from 155.70 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1746 from $1.1743.

Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Jim Boyle, CEO of Medline Industries, poses for a picture outside the Nasdaq MarketSite, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)