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| [March 07, 2013] |
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Cell Medica Announces Senior Management Appointments
LONDON & HOUSTON --(Business Wire)--
Cell Medica, the cellular therapeutics company bringing to market new
personalized cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and infections,
today announces key appointments to its senior executive team.
The strengthened management team will enable Cell Medica to broaden its
product development activities, particularly in the US, and will support
further international growth.
Dr. Kurt Gunter joins Cell Medica as Chief Medical Officer and will have
a senior role in managing the clinical and regulatory aspects of the
Company's therapeutic products with a focus on the cancer immunotherapy
program.
As Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Hammel will be responsible for Cell
Medica's global financial and business management systems to drive the
continued growth of Cell Medica's commercial operations in both Europe
and the US.
Ross Durland, PhD, has joined as Senior Vice President Development with
global responsibility for product development activities. Ross will
focus on the Company's pipeline strategy while also assisting in setting
up the manufacturing operations in the US.
The new members of the executive team will be based in Cell Medica's
recently established US office in Houston, Texas and will have global
responsibility for their respective functions. Also joining the Houston
office are Cynthia Molina, Senior Director Regulatory Affairs and
Shannon Inman, Director Clinical Operations, each with regional
responsibility for the US.
Gregg Sando, CEO of Cell Medica, commented, "Expanding our management
team with such experienced biotech professionals is a crucial step as we
extend our operations to the US market. For Cell Mdica, this represents
an important growth milestone in our strategy to build an industry
leader in cellular therapeutics on a global basis."
Dr. Kurt Gunter, Chief Medical Officer
Kurt has devoted his career to the development of cell and gene
therapies and brings significant commercial experience to Cell Medica
from his previous positions at Hospira, ViaCell and Transkaryotic
Therapies. As current President of the International Society for
Cellular Therapy (ISCT), Kurt plays a worldwide leadership role in
promoting the understanding of the clinical, regulatory, manufacturing
and marketing requirements for the successful development of cell and
gene therapies. Prior to his biotech career, he worked at the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration as a Medical Officer and was appointed Acting
Deputy Director of the Division of Cell and Gene Therapy within the
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).
Jeff Hammel, Chief Financial Officer
Jeff joins Cell Medica with over 17 years of broad financial and
operational experience in the healthcare industry. In his previous role
as Chief Financial Officer for the largest operating division of
Orthofix International NV, Jeff managed the global financial operations
for a medical technology business with $300 million revenues across all
major international markets. Jeff played an active role in providing
financial and analytical support to manage strategic and operational
goals. Prior to Orthofix, Jeff spent eight years at the head office of
Eli Lilly & Company where his final position was US Controller for the
$7.0 billion US pharmaceutical division.
Ross Durland, Senior Vice President Development
Ross has over 20 years of experience in the development of highly
innovative therapeutic products and technologies. He gained significant
experience with cell-based therapeutics while at Valentis (formerly
GeneMedicine) where he rose to Senior Director Preclinical Development
and led multi-site, multidisciplinary product development teams
advancing two new gene therapy products from animal proof-of-concept to
human clinical testing. During his time at Valentis, Ross also
participated in developing five additional clinical stage products, and
led the company's manufacturing and quality control functions in
manufacturing products for preclinical and clinical testing.
About Cell Medica
Cell Medica is a cellular therapeutics company engaged in the
development, manufacturing and marketing of cellular immunotherapy
products for infectious disease and cancer. The Company's Cytovir™
product family for immune reconstitution is for the treatment of
infections caused by latent viruses in immunosuppressed patients
following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell (bone marrow) transplant.
In the field of cancer immunotherapy, Cell Medica is targeting a range
of cancers associated with the oncogenic Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)
including lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
www.cellmedica.co.uk
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