– USA, CA – Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer, today announced the appointment of Dr. Yuan Xu, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors as an independent director.
“Yuan is an accomplished leader and innovator with extensive experience in guiding development and scaling manufacture of novel therapies, including CAR T-cell therapies such as cilta-cel,” said CEO, Scott Wolchko. “We are excited to work with Yuan, and we look forward to benefiting from her deep domain expertise as the Company advances its off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK and T-cell product candidates further into clinical development, transitions to large-scale manufacture, and establishes technical operations to support commercial approval.”
Dr. Xu brings to Fate Therapeutics over 25 years of discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercial experience in the global biopharmaceuticals business, most recently serving as the CEO and Board Member of Legend Biotech where she led the efforts in advancing ciltacabtagene autoleucel from proof-of-concept in 2018 to BLA preparation in 2020.
About Dr. Yuan Xu
Dr. Yuan Xu joined Legend Biotech Corporation in March 2018 as CEO and as a director, playing a leading role in the company’s IPO, clinical development of the autologous CAR T-cell therapy cilta-cel, and partnership with Janssen until her resignation in August 2020. Before Legend, Dr. Xu was SVP at Merck from August 2015 to August 2017, where she led discovery, preclinical and technical development, and manufacture of the Biologics & Vaccines subdivision. Dr. Xu was VP at Gilead from March 2014 to August 2015, where she led biologics and vaccines development and oversaw all operational aspects of the company’s Oceanside manufacturing facility as Site Head, and was VP at Novartis from 2008 to 2014, where she led several functions in the U.S. and Europe including the biotherapeutics development unit focusing on innovative medicines such as engineered cell therapies, gene therapies, and antibody-drug conjugates.
Dr. Xu currently serves as an independent director on the board of directors of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKRO).
“Fate Therapeutics has pioneered the field of iPSC-derived cell therapy, and has established a clear leadership position in the development of off-the-shelf NK and T-cell cancer immunotherapy with its robust clinical pipeline, novel iPSC product platform, and high-value strategic collaborations,” said Dr. Xu. “I look forward to working closely with the Company’s board and management team as we move into late-stage clinical development, scale manufacture, and seek to make these innovative cancer medicines more broadly accessible to patients.”
Early in her career, Dr. Xu held positions at Amgen, Chiron, GlaxoSmithKline and Genentech. Dr. Xu received a B.S. in biochemistry from Nanjing University and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, and she completed her post-doctoral training in virology and gene therapy at the University of California, San Diego.
About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.
Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for patients with cancer. The Company has established a leadership position in the clinical development and manufacture of universal, off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell product platform. The Company’s immuno-oncology pipeline includes off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived natural killer cell and T-cell product candidates, which are designed to synergize with well-established cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, and to target tumor-associated antigens using chimeric antigen receptors. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA.
For more information: https://fatetherapeutics.com
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