COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Forge
Biologics, a viral vector gene therapy manufacturing and
development company, today announced the expansion of its
leadership team to strengthen expertise in AAV manufacturing,
regulatory affairs and financial operations. The key hires come on
the heels of Forge's emergence from stealth mode in late July after
a successful $40M Series A
financing.
David Dismuke, Ph.D., joins as
Chief Technical Officer, Christopher
Shilling as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality
Assurance, and Christina Perry as
Vice President of Finance and Operations. All three leaders
will be in place in September and join Forge's executive leadership
team.
"The addition of David, Chris, and Christina to the Forge
leadership team brings immeasurable value to the Forge team and
expands our team of gene therapy experts," said Timothy J. Miller, Ph.D., Forge's Co-Founder,
President & CEO. "We believe that our accomplished and
passionate team, with demonstrated experience in manufacturing and
developing gene therapy products, is the foundation of fulfilling
our mission to accelerate transformative medicines to reach those
who need them most."
David Dismuke joins Forge with
more than 15 years of experience in large-scale
manufacturing. He is an authority in the bioprocessing and
design of gene therapy vectors and has led CMC operations in the
large-scale manufacturing of pre-clinical and clinical-grade AAV
vectors for more than 10 years. Prior to joining Forge, David was
the Vice President of Manufacturing at StrideBio where he directed
the development of manufacturing and analytical processes for AAV
vectors that utilize novel capsids. In addition, he led the
design of therapeutic and reporter transgenes and innovative
molecular enhancements to improve AAV production and therapeutic
function. He was also previously the Head of Vector Production
at Voyager Therapeutics where he led teams in the manufacturing and
analytical testing of AAV using the baculovirus/Sf9 production
system. Prior to Voyager, David was the Director of the UNC
Vector Core, where he oversaw GMP operations as well as the
production of research-grade vectors. He earned his PhD from
Vanderbilt University, focusing on the
molecular biology and lifecycle of HIV-1, and then performed his
postdoctoral research at UNC Chapel Hill.
Christopher Shilling joins Forge
as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality. He has over 15
years of experience in development of novel gene therapies for rare
and severe disorders. Christopher is an experienced leader in gene
therapy regulatory affairs, pharmacology, toxicology, and project
management focused on developing strategies for early phase
clinical trials in support of a variety of transformative
therapeutics for pediatric and rare diseases. Prior to joining
Forge, Christopher started the Drug and Device Development program
at Nationwide Children's Hospital which was instrumental in gaining
acceptance from regulators for over twenty first-in-human gene
therapy clinical trials of novel biologic products, a dozen orphan
drug designations, and two fast track designations. He
received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of
Science degree in Pathology both from the Ohio
State University.
Christina Perry joins Forge
Biologics as the Vice President of Finance and Operations. She
spent the last several years as the CFO of Drive Capital where she
built out all accounting and finance operations, back-office needs,
and investor relations and reporting. Christina managed complex
entity legal structures and has had extensive exposure to equity
and debt financings. Over the last 15+ years Christina has
worked with public and private companies and startups across
varying industries, developing operational processes to scale with
high growth. She began her career at Deloitte, is a licensed CPA in
the state of Ohio, earned her
Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame and a Master of
Accountancy from Miami University.
These additions to the Forge Biologics leadership team continue
Forge's momentum within the biotechnology industry in Columbus Ohio, bringing positive impact to
both Ohio and the global rare
disease community.
About Forge Biologics
The mission of Forge Biologics
is to enable access to life changing gene therapies and help bring
them from idea into reality. Forge has a 175,000 ft2
facility in Columbus, Ohio,
referred to as "The Hearth", to serve as their headquarters. The
Hearth will be home to a custom-designed cGMP facility, dedicated
to AAV viral vector manufacturing and will host end-to-end
manufacturing services to accelerate gene therapy programs from
preclinical through clinical and commercial stage
manufacturing. By taking a patients-first approach, Forge aims
to accelerate the timelines of these transformative medicines for
those who need them the most.
For more information, please visit
https://www.forgebiologics.com.
Media Inquiries:
Dan
Salvo
Forge Biologics
Director of Communications and Community Development
media@forgebiologics.com
Business Inquiries:
Erandi De
Silva, Ph.D.
Forge Biologics
Co-Founder and Vice President of Product Development
bd@forgebiologics.com
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SOURCE Forge Biologics