Century Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPSC), an innovative
biotechnology company developing induced pluripotent stem cell
(iPSC)-derived cell therapies in immuno-oncology and autoimmune
disease, today announced the appointments of Morgan Conn, Ph.D., as
Chief Financial Officer and Chad Cowan, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific
Officer. The appointments are effective October 14, 2024, and
October 1, 2024, respectively, and both will join the Executive
Committee. The Company also announced that Hy Levitsky, M.D.,
President of Research and Development, will be transitioning from
operational duties to serve as an advisor to Century.
“We are thrilled to welcome Morgan and Chad to Century at this
exciting time as we advance our key clinical programs, expand into
additional autoimmune indications, and accelerate our prioritized
next-generation pipeline programs. Morgan is a talented scientist
and biotech executive with significant strategic and transaction
experience. Chad’s pioneering expertise in cell therapy has
provided further advancement in iPSC-derived αβ T-cell programs and
key platform technologies in his role as an advisor to Century
since the acquisition of Clade, positioning us for success,” said
Brent Pfeiffenberger, Pharm.D., Chief Executive Officer of Century
Therapeutics. “I also extend my deepest gratitude to Hy. As one of
Century’s earliest employees, Hy’s scientific expertise and trusted
leadership have been instrumental to the company’s evolution.”
Morgan Conn, Ph.D., brings to Century over 20 years of financing
and business development leadership in biopharma. Most recently, he
served as Chief Business Officer at Pharvaris, where he held
responsibility for finance operations, corporate development,
capital and corporate strategy, investor relations, among other
functions. Prior to that, Dr. Conn founded CallisBio, a consultancy
focused on corporate/business development strategy and transaction
support. Earlier, he held positions of increasing responsibility in
business development at PTC Therapeutics, where he was instrumental
in all business development transactions, including collaborations,
license agreements, and product acquisitions. Dr. Conn began his
career in academia. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.Sc. in Chemistry and
Biochemistry from the University of Toronto.
“With several key catalysts on the horizon, I’m excited to be
joining Century at this pivotal time,” said Dr. Conn. “Century is
uniquely positioned within the cell therapy sector, with a breadth
of expertise across multiple cell types, further strengthened by
the inherent engineerability, reproducibility, and scalability of
an iPSC-derived platform. I look forward to supporting the
continued program evolution to harness the full value of the
company’s leading platforms and pipeline.”
Chad Cowan, Ph.D., is a pioneer in stem and cell therapy and has
been serving as an executive scientific advisor at Century
following the acquisition of Clade Therapeutics in April 2024,
where he was founder and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to founding
Clade, he was a scientific founder of CRISPR Therapeutics and
founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Sana Biotechnology. Dr.
Cowan was previously a member of the Broad Institute and a
principal faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, where
he directed the Diabetes Disease Program and the iPS Cell Core
Facility. Additionally, he has led or been a member of several
large efforts to utilize stem cells to better understand diseases,
including the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s Next Gen
iPS Cell Project and the Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium. Dr.
Cowan received a Transformative Research Award from the NIH for
using pioneering gene-editing tools to better understand complex
genetic diseases. He started his career as an assistant professor
at Harvard College in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative
Biology and later became an associate professor at Harvard College
and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cowan received his B.A. and B.S.
from the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. from the
University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas.
“Over the past few months as an executive scientific advisor,
I’ve seen first-hand how Century is harnessing the full potential
of Clade’s iPSC-derived αβ T-cell programs, novel cloaking
strategy, and deep iPSC scientific capabilities. I believe the
results we are seeing from the joint pipeline across a broad range
of cell types position Century as a future leader in allogeneic
cell therapies, particularly with iNK, γδ iT, and αβ iT-cell
programs, combined with enhanced capabilities to advance Century's
Allo-Evasion™ technology. I am honored to take on the role of Chief
Scientific Officer and carry on the trailblazing work of Hy and the
Century team,” said Dr. Cowan.
Hy Levitsky, President of Research and Development at Century
Therapeutics, commented: “I am proud of the work we have achieved
at Century to-date. Having worked closely with Chad in recent
months, I feel confident I am leaving the company’s programs in
capable hands. While I have decided at this point in my career to
step away from day-to-day operations and managerial oversight, my
belief in the technology we have developed is stronger than ever. I
wish my colleagues the best as they continue to move this important
science forward.”
About Century Therapeutics
Century Therapeutics (NASDAQ: IPSC) is harnessing the power of
adult stem cells to develop curative cell therapy products for
cancer and autoimmune diseases that we believe will allow us to
overcome the limitations of first-generation cell therapies. Our
genetically engineered, iPSC-derived cell product candidates are
designed to specifically target hematologic and solid tumor
cancers, with a broadening application to autoimmune diseases. We
are leveraging our expertise in cellular reprogramming, genetic
engineering, and manufacturing to develop therapies with the
potential to overcome many of the challenges inherent to cell
therapy and provide a significant advantage over existing cell
therapy technologies. We believe our commitment to developing
off-the-shelf cell therapies will expand patient access and provide
an unparalleled opportunity to advance the course of cancer and
autoimmune disease care. For more information on Century
Therapeutics please visit www.centurytx.com.
Century Therapeutics Forward-Looking
Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of, and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of,
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All
statements contained in this press release, other than statements
of historical facts or statements that relate to present facts or
current conditions, including but not limited to, statements
regarding our clinical development plans and timelines are
forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may
cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking
statements by terms such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,”
“expect,” “plan,” “aim,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,”
“target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,”
“predict,” “forecast,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of
these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking
statements in this press release are only predictions. We have
based these forward-looking statements largely on our current
expectations and projections about future events and financial
trends that we believe may affect our business, financial
condition, and results of operations. These forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are
subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some
of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are
beyond our control, including, among others: our ability to
successfully advance our current and future product candidates
through development activities, preclinical studies, and clinical
trials; our dependence on the success of our lead product
candidate, CNTY-101; the ability of CNTY-101 to be administered as
part of a multi-dose strategy and to enable responses without
lymphodepletion; uncertainties inherent in the results of
preliminary data, pre-clinical studies and earlier-stage clinical
trials, which may not be predictive of final results or the results
of later-stage clinical trials; the timing of and our ability to
successfully enroll the Phase 1 SLE and LN trial; the timing of and
our ability to enter dose expansion of the Phase 1 R/R
CD19-positive B-cell lymphomas trial; our ability to obtain FDA
clearance of our future IND submissions and commence and complete
clinical trials on expected timelines, or at all; our reliance on
the maintenance of certain key collaborative relationships for the
manufacturing and development of our product candidates; the
timing, scope and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals,
including final regulatory approval of our product candidates; the
impact of geopolitical issues, banking instability and inflation on
our business and operations, supply chain and labor force; the
performance of third parties in connection with the development of
our product candidates, including third parties conducting our
clinical trials as well as third-party suppliers and manufacturers;
our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates
and develop sales and marketing capabilities, if our product
candidates are approved; our ability to recruit and maintain key
members of management and our ability to maintain and successfully
enforce adequate intellectual property protection. These and other
risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the “Risk
Factors” section of our most recent filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. You should not
rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future
events. The events and circumstances reflected in our
forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual
results could differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a dynamic
industry and economy. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge
from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict
all risk factors and uncertainties that we may face. Except as
required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as
a result of any new information, future events, changed
circumstances or otherwise.
For More Information:
Investor Relations & Media Contacts
Century Therapeutics
Katja Buhrer
SVP, Head of Corporate Affairs and Strategy
katja.buhrer@centurytx.com
917-969-3438
Argot Partners
Julie Seidel/Noor Pahlavi
century@argotpartners.com
212-600-1902
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