Fate Therapeutics Appoints Wen Bo Wang, Ph.D. as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
October 04 2018 - 8:00AM
Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies
for cancer and immune disorders, announced today that Wen Bo Wang,
Ph.D., a leading expert in the manufacture of pluripotent stem
cell-derived cell products, has joined the Company as Senior Vice
President, Technical Operations. Dr. Wang brings to Fate
Therapeutics more than 18 years of cell therapy leadership, having
most recently served as Senior Vice President, Cell Therapy
Research & Development at FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc. Dr.
Wang will be responsible for shaping the Company’s manufacturing
strategies for its pipeline of off-the-shelf cell-based cancer
immunotherapy candidates and scaling the Company’s induced
pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform to support late-stage
clinical and commercial operations.
“Wen Bo is joining the Company at an exciting time as we prepare
to advance the first wave of our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK
cell and CAR T-cell product candidates into clinical development,”
said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate
Therapeutics. “Wen Bo brings to the Company an exceptional track
record of technical innovation in cell therapy, including in the
development of GMP-compliant processes for iPSC generation, master
cell banking, stem cell differentiation and cell product
cryopreservation. Her past successes and expertise in CMC
development and large-scale production of pluripotent stem
cell-derived products is a tremendous complement to our
organization as we begin to build out our in-house manufacturing
capacity.”
“The use of clonal master iPSC lines as a renewable cell source
for the production of cell products is a novel and highly
disruptive manufacturing paradigm that has the potential to
overcome the complexity, heterogeneity and substantial costs that
currently limit the broad application of cell therapy,” said Dr.
Wang. “Fate Therapeutics has assembled a strong team that is
growing rapidly, and I look forward to working with my new
colleagues to help advance multiple off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived
cell product candidates into clinical development over the next
twelve months and to scale the Company’s iPSC product platform to
support commercial-scale operations.”
Dr. Wang has spent her career overseeing process development and
manufacturing of pluripotent stem cell-derived products. While at
FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Dr. Wang was responsible for the
development of the company’s iPSC-derived therapeutic pipeline of
products, led the development of next-generation technologies for
large-scale manufacture of iPSC-derived cell products, and directed
the scale-up and scale-out process development of the company’s
iCell® and MyCell® products. Prior to joining FUJIFILM Cellular
Dynamics in 2008, Dr. Wang was Group Leader, Process Sciences at
Geron Corporation, where she pioneered the development of embryonic
stem cell-derived cell therapies and dendritic cell cancer
vaccines. Dr. Wang also held a number of positions at ViaCell,
Inc., including Associate Scientific Director, ViaCord Human
Umbilical Cord Blood Bank. Dr. Wang earned a B.S. in Biology from
Ocean University of Qingdao, P.R. China and received her Ph.D. in
Biology from Newcastle University, United Kingdom.
In connection with her commencement of employment, Fate
Therapeutics granted Dr. Wang an option to purchase 200,000 shares
of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price equal
to $16.25, the closing price per share of the Company’s common
stock as reported by NASDAQ on October 1, 2018, which was the
date of commencement of Dr. Wang’s employment with the Company and
the effective date of grant. The option is a non-qualified stock
option and vests over a period of four years, with twenty-five
percent vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and
the remaining seventy-five percent in approximately equal monthly
increments over the succeeding thirty-six months, subject to Dr.
Wang’s continuous employment through each vesting date. This award
was granted as an inducement material to Dr. Wang entering into
employment with Fate Therapeutics in accordance with NASDAQ Listing
Rule 5635(c) (4), and was granted pursuant to the Company’s
Inducement Equity Plan.
About Fate Therapeutics, Inc. Fate Therapeutics
is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the
development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for cancer
and immune disorders. The Company is pioneering the development of
off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced
pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform. The Company’s
immuno-oncology pipeline is comprised of FATE-NK100, a
donor-derived natural killer (NK) cell cancer immunotherapy that is
currently being evaluated in three Phase 1 clinical trials, as well
as iPSC-derived NK cell and T-cell immunotherapies, with a focus on
developing augmented cell products intended to synergize with
checkpoint inhibitor and monoclonal antibody therapies and to
target tumor-specific antigens. The Company’s immuno-regulatory
pipeline includes ProTmune™, a next-generation donor cell graft
that is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for
the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, and a myeloid-derived
suppressor cell immunotherapy for promoting immune tolerance in
patients with immune disorders.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements
regarding the Company’s progress, plans and timelines for its
manufacture and clinical investigation of its iPSC-derived product
candidates. These and any other forward-looking statements in this
release are based on management's current expectations of future
events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from
those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the
risk that the Company may cease or delay any planned development,
manufacturing or clinical activities for a variety of reasons
(including any delay in enrolling patients in clinical trials, the
occurrence of any adverse events or other results that may be
observed during development, or difficulties in manufacturing or
supplying the Company’s product candidates for clinical testing),
and the risk that results observed in prior preclinical studies of
the Company’s product candidates may not be replicated in
subsequent studies or clinical trials. For a discussion of other
risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which
could cause the Company’s actual results to differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements, see the risks and
uncertainties detailed in the Company’s periodic filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to
the Company’s most recently filed periodic report and, from time to
time, in the Company’s other investor communications. The
Company is providing the information in this release as of this
date and does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact: Christina Tartaglia Stern Investor
Relations, Inc. 212.362.1200 christina@sternir.com
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