PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Century Therapeutics, a Versant Ventures-founded developer of next-generation allogeneic cell therapies, today announced the appointments of Joseph Jimenez to its board of directors and Greg Russotti, PhD, as chief technology officer.

Jimenez joins Century’s board with more than 20 years of experience as a senior leadership executive in the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries. He retired in 2018 as the CEO of Novartis, a leading pharmaceutical company, where he oversaw the development of one of the largest pipelines of self-originated drugs in the industry through a robust emphasis on R&D.

“We are thrilled to welcome Joe Jimenez to Century’s board of directors. His unique background, outstanding leadership, and deep understanding of the biomedical industry will complement and enrich Century,” said Lalo Flores, PhD, chief executive officer at Century. “His role in leading Novartis to attain the first FDA approval for a CAR T cell therapy aligns with Century’s goal to lead the next wave of innovation in cell therapy.”

“I am honored to join the board at Century to contribute to the expansion of cell therapy as a transformational cancer treatment modality,” Jimenez said. “I believe Century is positioned to deliver on its mission of leveraging a leading pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform to develop more effective off-the-shelf cell therapies for liquid and solid tumors. I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to their mission.”

Jimenez joins Century’s other board of directors, Carlo Rizzuto of Versant Ventures; Toshikazu Ban of Fujifilm; Jak Knowles of Leaps by Bayer and Flores.

Russotti brings to Century more than 25 years of industrial experience in bioprocess development and implementation, including extensive knowledge in cell therapy technical operations. Most recently, he was vice president of cell therapy technical development at Celgene, where he guided CMC efforts for five different cell therapy products to IND and clinical-stage development. He also established in-house cell therapy manufacturing at Celgene and led the efforts to build Celgene’s first commercial CAR T manufacturing facility.

Before Celgene, Russotti spent 12 years at Merck Research Laboratories with roles in cell culture development, downstream purification, pilot plant operations, and manufacturing facility startup.

“Greg’s addition to our senior leadership team brings tremendous experience that will be instrumental in guiding and driving our technical strategy and building Century’s in-house manufacturing facilities, capabilities and expertise,” Flores said.

About Century Therapeutics

Century Therapeutics is harnessing the power of stem cells to develop curative cell therapy products for cancer that overcome the limitations of first-generation cell therapies. Our genetically engineered, universal iPSC-derived immune effector cell products (NK, T, DC and macrophage) are designed to specifically target hematologic and solid tumor cancers. Our commitment to developing off-the-shelf cell therapies will expand patient access and provides an unparalleled opportunity to advance the course of cancer care. Century was launched in 2019 by founding investor Versant Ventures in partnership with Fujifilm and Leaps by Bayer. For more information, please visit www.centurytherapeutics.com.