STOCKHOLM, April 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartCella Holding AB today
announces that Dr Ricardo Baptista
has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Head of
Procella. Ricardo is an experienced Biochemical Engineer with
almost 20-years of global experience in the medical biotechnology
industry. He has a significant track record of leading technical
teams at key cell and gene therapy companies, globally. Ricardo
will be a member of SmartCella's Executive Management Team and be
based in Stockholm head
office.
SmartCella is an innovative biotechnology company developing
stem cell and RNA-based therapies in combination with novel
delivery devices such as the FDA-cleared Extroducer. With
Ricardo Baptista onboard, SmartCella
takes the next step on its growth and development journey by
further strengthening its scientific competencies. With critical
infrastructure and capabilities in place, a top talented team as
well as a substantial pipeline of projects, SmartCella is well
positioned to create value for both shareholders and patients in
need.
Niklas Prager, CEO of SmartCella,
says: "The appointment of Ricardo as CTO and Head of Procella is
yet another important milestone for us as a group, and I am
thrilled to continue to strengthen the team with talent of
Ricardo's caliber. His extensive experience in the cell and gene
therapy field will be instrumental to our strategic framework to
advance our targeted cell-based therapies into the clinic. His
entrepreneurial mindset will ensure our path to commercialization
and will add true value when it comes to building out our pipeline.
Ricardo is a valued leader, which is a crucial skill as we nurture
and cultivate our culture across the SmartCella family".
Ricardo Baptista, CTO of
SmartCella and Head of Procella, comments: "I was attracted by
SmartCella thanks to its unique blend of cutting-edge technologies
to develop and deliver novel therapies for patients. Aligned with
the broader field of advanced therapies, SmartCella champions
interdisciplinary approaches and a culture of innovation. As we
prepare for clinical trials, I am excited to help build out
capabilities across the technical, quality, and manufacturing
teams, and define the strategic roadmaps to derisk the development
journey by having the commercial product in mind from the start.
The dedication and passion across the teams are truly inspiring and
foster a culture of scientific and technical creativity. I am
confident that SmartCella will soon emerge as one of the foremost
Swedish, and global, leaders in the health biotech space".
Ricardo has a PhD in Biochemical Engineering and brings almost
20 years' experience in cell therapy process development and CMC.
He has led teams designing processing and analytical platforms for
a wide range of therapeutic modalities. His combination of
engineering and process expertise have underpinned the development
of scalable cell therapy manufacturing approaches in companies such
as Procella Tx, Cellectis, CGT Catapult, CCRM, and recently Alder
Therapeutics. Crucially, Ricardo has also been involved in the
generation and production of clinical-grade iPSC lines, and the
design of GMP facilities, thus being a truly rounded leader in this
space.
Contact
Niklas Prager, CEO, +46 768
117744; niklas.prager@smartcella.com
About SmartCella Holding AB
SmartCella, founded in 2014, is an innovative biotechnology
company based in Stockholm,
Sweden. SmartCella's vision is to combine first-in-class
delivery platforms with cutting-edge cell and mRNA therapies to
unleash the full potential of targeted therapies. The company has
three main business units, Smartwise, SmartCella Solutions and
ProCella.
Smartwise
Smartwise has developed a first-in-class endovascular device,
the Extroducer, that enables direct-to-tissue drug delivery. This
technology addresses a significant unmet need in the field novel
therapies, enabling targeted delivery of a wide range of modalities
for solid tumor treatment and tissue repair. Using standard
equipment and routine interventional radiology approaches, the
Extroducer provides access to hard-to-reach tissues by safely
penetrating the vessel wall and delivering payload directly to the
target location. Smartwise received regulatory approval from the US
FDA for the Extroducer in June 2022
and is now actively licensing out the technology globally.
SmartCella Solutions
SmartCella Solutions has developed novel mRNA therapies and
cell-mediated delivery platforms enabling localized protein
expression. The company is now actively engaging in partnering
discussions for out-licensing, as well as developing its own
proprietary therapies.
ProCella
ProCella has advanced capabilities in developing proprietary
stem cell therapies as well as in-house cGMP manufacturing. The
first therapy, a cardiac progenitor cell, has now been taken
through GLP tox and is approaching a clinical phase 1 trial in
heart failure. The company recently completed the construction of
its clinical GMP manufacturing facility, which has been approved by
the Swedish authorities (GMP) and cleared for production. This
infrastructure along with the team's technical expertise and
capabilities will underpin the company's growing pipeline going
forward.
Read more www.smartcella.com
Follow SmartCella on LinkedIn
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Press release Ricardo
Baptista CTO 240419
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https://news.cision.com/smartcella-holding-ab/i/ricardo-baptista-2024,c3290993
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Ricardo Baptista
2024
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