jCyte Announces Appointment of Victor Chao as Vice President of CMC Operations

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--jCyte, Inc., a private biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients with retinal degenerative diseases, announced the continued expansion of the Company’s leadership team with the appointment of Victor Chao as Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) Operations.

Mr. Chao joins jCyte with over 25 years of industry experience across numerous corporate operational leadership roles in CMC operations, cGMP global manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain management for multiple blockbuster biological therapies and commercial and corporate operations for ophthalmology prescription medicines, surgical devices, and biosimilars.

Mr. Chao joins jCyte from Santen Pharmaceuticals where he served as the Head of Commercial Operations for North and Latin America, responsible for Commercial Alliances and Partnerships, Market Access and Reimbursement, Trade and Distribution, and Launch Readiness for all of Santen’s ophthalmology pharmaceutical products and surgical devices. Prior to Santen, Mr. Chao was with McKesson Specialty Health as the Senior Director of Multisource Products for six years where he led, scaled, and launched numerous process initiatives and products and was responsible for McKesson’s $300M generics and biosimilars business. Before joining McKesson, Mr. Chao spent eight years at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals in leadership roles responsible for CMC operations, process engineering, and global supply chain management for their multi-billion-dollar products Betaseron^® and Kogenate^® across multiple manufacturing sites within the United States and Europe. Importantly, Mr. Chao helped design and implement the purification process for late-stage clinical trial production of Kogenate PF^® and, following Bayer’s acquisition of its key growth asset Betaseron^® from Novartis, he rebuilt engineering teams, managed a cross-functional team of over 250 people to execute an extensive purification and fill/finish facility upgrade project, and led the transfer of the manufacturing process to another facility in Europe.

Victor holds a BS in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University and earned his MBA from The Wharton School with a dual major in strategy and entrepreneurship.

“I am excited to welcome Victor to the jCyte senior leadership team as we continue to expand the Company’s corporate infrastructure to manufacture jCell at commercial scale, complete our pivotal Phase 3 trial for our lead indication and prepare to deliver jCell to patients with significant unmet medical needs,” said Dr. Shannon Blalock, Chief Executive Officer. “Victor brings a unique breadth and depth of CMC and corporate operational experience to jCyte at this critical juncture in the Company’s evolution as we rapidly advance our jCell platform technology to Phase 3 trials for RP and other retinal degenerative disorders and prepare for global commercialization. We look forward to leveraging Victor’s highly diversified experience and proven track record of successfully leading and supporting the manufacture of multiple novel multi-billion-dollar biological products, launching the first set of blockbuster biosimilar therapies, filgrastim and infliximab, in the US, and leading North and Latin American commercial operations for a Top 4 global ophthalmology pharmaceutical company who is the market leader throughout most of Asia. His addition to the team will help ensure we get our transformative cell therapy to the millions of patients around the world who currently have no treatment options as quickly as possible.”

jCell is a first-in-class investigational treatment for RP which has received FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation. In addition to RMAT designation, jCell has received Orphan Drug designation from the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

About jCyte, Inc.

jCyte, Inc. is a late-stage clinical phase biotech company focused on developing its first-in-class regenerative cell therapy, jCell, for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other retinal degenerative disorders. The treatment is minimally invasive and given as an intravitreal injection. There are currently no FDA approved therapies for RP. The Company is pioneering a new era of regenerative therapies to address the significant unmet medical needs of patients suffering from a broad set of retinal degenerative diseases. For more information, visit www.jcyte.com.