jCyte Announces Appointment of Peter C. Kuper as Senior Vice President of Finance and Information Technology

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 Peter Kuper as Senior Vice President of Finance and Information Technology. Mr. Kuper joins jCyte with over 25 years of investment banking, security analysis, and venture capital experience having played significant leadership roles in making and moving public and private markets, cultivating startups, and leading numerous large IPOs that raised over $4 billion in investment capital.

Mr. Kuper joins jCyte from ClearSky Venture Capital, where he served as Managing Director of the $800 million firm. At ClearSky, Mr. Kuper invested in and served as a Board Director for next-generation technology start-ups based on his critical assessment of industry trends, management team capability, and the total addressable market opportunity. Prior to his work at ClearSky, Mr. Kuper was recruited to In-Q-Tel, a strategic investment firm created to accelerate next generation technology innovation for the United States Intelligence Community. Within two years, Mr. Kuper took In-Q-Tel from zero deals to a top five Corporate Investor ranking. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kuper was the Vice President and Head Enterprise Software Analyst at Morgan Stanley, where he led coverage of the Enterprise Software Industry consisting of over 20 companies whose cumulative market cap was greater than $250 billion. Mr. Kuper and his team also led multiple transactions at Morgan Stanley, including some of the industry’s most significant IPOs in the cyber and software segments.

Mr. Kuper’s early career included stints at a number of leading financial institutions, including SG Cowen, Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, American Express, and Chase Manhattan, where he started his career in their prestigious executive training program. Mr. Kuper earned his BS in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island.

“I am extremely pleased to have Peter join the jCyte senior leadership team,” said Dr. Shannon Blalock, Chief Executive Officer. “Over his 27-year career, Peter has been successful across all aspects of finance, including investment banking, securities analysis, and venture capital. He has continually demonstrated the unique ability to identify emerging market opportunities across multiple sectors and, as importantly, the financial acumen to capitalize on them. His significant knowledge, experience, and savvy are a perfect fit for jCyte as we rapidly prepare to initiate our single pivotal Phase 3 study for jCell’s lead indication, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and advance our FDA designated Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) platform technology into Phase 3 studies for other retinal degenerative conditions.”

jCell is a first-in-class investigational treatment for RP which has received FDA 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 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.