Humacyte Appoints Doug Blankenship as Chief Financial Officer

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Humacyte, an innovator in biotechnology and regenerative medicine, announced today the appointment of Douglas L. Blankenship as Chief Financial Officer, effective Monday, October 8, 2018. Mr. Blankenship is a highly accomplished financial professional with executive-level experience in financing, finance and accounting, technical operations, management, and strategy for life science and biotechnology organizations. He has managed over $225 million in public and private equity/debt financing, and led three companies through successful initial public offerings. Mr. Blankenship will report to Humacyte President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey Lawson, MD, PhD.

“After a thorough and thoughtful search process for a strategic and experienced finance leader, we are pleased to welcome Doug Blankenship to Humacyte,” said Dr. Lawson. “Doug is a veteran in the life sciences industry with a diverse set of skills and a proven record of leading successful business and financial transactions. He joins us at an inflection point, as Humacyte continues its trajectory as a growing biotechnology company and prepares for product commercialization following regulatory approval.”

Prior to joining Humacyte, Mr. Blankenship was Chief Financial Officer of Dova Pharmaceuticals, and previously held financial leadership positions as Director of Finance for Genentech, Inc., Executive Director of Finance for Amgen, and Director of Finance and Treasurer for Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Blankenship earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with concentrations in Finance and Operations Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California Polytechnic State University.

“It’s a true honor to join a group of brilliant, accomplished and passionate professionals who share a common vision. Humacyte scientists are developing technologies that potentially can lead to more positive clinical outcomes for patients,” said Mr. Blankenship. “Leveraging my previous leadership roles across several large and small companies within the life sciences, biotech and pharmaceutical industries, we will strive to implement financial strategies that will contribute to the advancement of this powerful science and the company.”

Mr. Blankenship will transition CFO responsibilities from Paul Boyer. “On behalf of the board and management team, I’d like to thank Paul for his dedication and innumerable contributions during his eight years with Humacyte,” continued Dr. Lawson. “Paul played a crucial role in strengthening our path to achieving business success during that time.”

About Humacyte:

Humacyte, Inc., a privately held company founded by Dr. Laura E. Niklason, M.D., Ph.D., in 2004, is a medical research, discovery and development company with clinical and pre-clinical stage investigational products. Humacyte is primarily focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary novel technology based on human tissue-based products for key applications in regenerative medicine and vascular surgery. The company uses its innovative, proprietary platform technology to engineer human, extracellular matrix-based tissues that can be shaped into tubes, sheets, or particulate conformations, with properties similar to native tissues. These are being developed for potential use in many specific applications, with the goal to significantly improve treatment outcomes for many patients, including those with vascular disease and those requiring hemodialysis. The company’s proprietary technologies are designed to create off-the-shelf products that, once approved, can be utilized in any patient. The company web site is www.humacyte.com.

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this announcement are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “will”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe”, “intend” and “should” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements relate to future events or Humacyte’s clinical development programs, reflect management’s current beliefs and expectations and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Humacyte’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different. Except as required by law, Humacyte assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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