Ocera Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Steven P. James to Board

Ocera Therapeutics, Inc.

, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on acute and chronic orphan liver diseases, today announced that Steven P. James has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. James will serve as the Lead Independent Director and will be the Chairman of the Compensation Committee. "Steve brings a track record of helping create significant value for shareholders," said Linda S. Grais, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Ocera. "We believe the depth of his corporate and business development expertise will be of significant value to Ocera as we work to advance the clinical development of OCR-002." "I am very pleased to join forces with Ocera's board and executive team to develop OCR-002 for the benefit of patients suffering from hepatic encephalopathy," said Mr. James. Mr. James was the President and Founding Chief Executive Officer of Labrys Biologics, Inc., a private venture-backed start-up developing a monoclonal antibody against neuropeptide calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) for the prevention of chronic migraine, until the company was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals in July 2014. From 2004 to 2012, Mr. James served as President and Chief Executive Officer of KAI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. when it was acquired by Amgen. Prior to joining KAI, he held leadership positions at Exelixis, Inc., Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Isis Pharmaceuticals. Mr. James previously held business development, marketing and general management positions with Landec Corporation, California Biotechnology and Eli Lilly & Company. He holds a Bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University and a Master's degree in management from Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Mr. James also currently serves on the board of Armetheon, Inc. and is a member of the board of trustees of Middlebridge School in Rhode Island.