CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the appointment of Joseph Gold, PhD, as Vice President, Technical Operations and Manufacturing. Dr. Gold is a recognized leader with more than 25 years of experience in cell and gene therapy process development and GMP manufacturing. As head of Technical Operations and Manufacturing at Catamaran, he will lead the development of key aspects of the company’s TAILWIND™ Platform, including transposon-based NK cell engineering, process development and scale-up, as well as GMP manufacturing of Catamaran’s CAR-NK product candidates.
“We are thrilled to have Joe join our senior leadership team. Joe has a very successful track record of managing and enabling the manufacture of cell therapy products through the entire development cycle, and his expertise will help ensure that our innovative CAR-NK cell therapies reach patients as soon as possible,” said Alvin Shih, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “I look forward to working together with Joe as we build the infrastructure to deliver best-in-class NK cell therapies for patients with solid tumors.”
Most recently, Dr. Gold was Senior Director of Manufacturing for the Center for Biomedicine and Genetics at the City of Hope Cancer Center, where he was responsible for managing process development and GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products for both internal users and external clients. In this role at City of Hope, he led multiple external collaborations to advance cancer research programs for cell therapies and managed a designated cell production facility. Previously, he was Assistant Director of Translational Research at the Stanford University Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Gold began his career in biotechnology with Geron Corporation, where he served in several leadership roles. He is an inventor on more than 15 patents related to cell therapy and regenerative medicine and has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Gold earned a BS from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University.
“Catamaran’s approach toward CAR-NK cell therapy for solid tumors is highly differentiated, and I am excited to be joining the Catamaran team as we seek to advance our first cell therapies toward the clinic,” commented Dr. Gold. “My work over the past two decades has prepared me for the challenges of delivering CAR-NK therapies, and I look forward to playing a critical role in the production of potentially life-saving therapies for cancer patients in need.”
About the TAILWIND™ Platform
Catamaran’s TAILWIND™ Platform integrates proprietary capabilities to create novel, allogeneic CAR‑NK cell therapies by harnessing the natural cancer-fighting properties of natural killer (NK) cells and enhancing them with the power of synthetic biology and innovative NK cell engineering and manufacturing. With the TAILWIND Platform, CAR-NK cells are programmed with NK cell-specific CAR architectures and potency-boosting switches to neutralize the hostile tumor microenvironment and enable efficacy against diverse cancer types, especially solid tumors. Additionally, the TAILWIND Platform includes proprietary, non-viral NK cell engineering technology for efficient modification of NK cells with customized genetic programs enabled by synthetic biology. Catamaran’s CAR-NK cell therapies use healthy donor cells that are engineered and manufactured for off-the-shelf use, unlike current CAR-T cell therapies that use a patient’s own genetically modified T cells and require a customized, multi-week manufacturing process.
About Catamaran Bio
Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWINDTM Platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures and Astellas Venture Management. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.
