IRVINE, Calif., May 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Novocell, Inc., a stem cell engineering company, hired Alan Lewis, Ph.D., as president and CEO to accelerate the company’s mission of creating, delivering and commercializing stem cell therapies and drugs for diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Dr. Alan Lewis has an established reputation for leadership in life sciences. Prior to joining Novocell, he served as CEO and director of Signal Pharmaceuticals before its acquisition in 2000 by Celgene, a biopharmaceutical company focused on small-molecule drugs for cancer and immunological diseases. He then served as president of the Signal Research Division at Celgene. Dr. Lewis previously held the position of vice president of research at Wyeth-Ayerst, where he spent 15 years leading research efforts in diabetes, CNS, cardiovascular, inflammatory, allergy and bone metabolism diseases.
“Alan brings more than 25 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience to Novocell,” commented Fred Middleton, managing director of Sanderling and chairman of Novocell’s Board of Directors. “He has a track record for developing and executing effective corporate strategies for cutting-edge science and technology. We are confident that Alan’s extensive experience will enable him to effectively capitalize on Novocell’s stem cell technologies and product opportunities for new therapeutic solutions.”
Through its technology, Novocell is the first company to engineer human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into endoderm, the gatekeeper cells that differentiate into pancreas, liver, lung and many other cells, tissues and organs. The company published a paper on this technology in Nature Biotechnology in late 2005, and the research was reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year.
“Novocell’s ability to engineer stem cells into definitive endoderm is a ground-breaking advancement for medicine,” said Dr. Lewis, president and CEO of Novocell. “This discovery provides the foundation for engineering unlimited insulin-producing islet cells for implants, eliminating patient dependence on self-administered glucose monitoring and insulin injections. I am also excited about the opportunities to further develop our stem cell platform for uses in drug discovery, including our identification of targets recently linked to cancer stem cells.”
Novocell is utilizing its proprietary stem cell-directed lineage technology to create an unlimited source of stem cell-derived islet cells for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 insulin-dependent diabetics. The stem cell-derived islet cells will be used in combination with the company’s proprietary cell encapsulation technology, currently in a Phase I/II proof of principle clinical trial. The cell encapsulation technology uses a polyethylene glycol (PEG) conformal coating that enables transplanted cells to survive and function and is designed to eliminate the need for continuous immunosuppressant drugs.
The company is also exploring three other areas of research for future programs and/or out-licensing opportunities:
* Drug Discovery -- Novocell is exploring avenues related to cancer stem cells and has discovered a novel cell-surface molecule believed to be part of the signaling pathway driving self renewal and pluripotency in cancer tumors. * Screening -- Novocell is working to develop endoderm-derived cells and tissues for drug metabolism, transport and toxicology screening. * Reagents -- Novocell has developed reagents for stable growth and amplification of stem cells as well as for monoclonal antibodies that recognize novel cell surface antigens.
Dr. Lewis will draw upon his scientific and leadership experience to drive Novocell into the forefront of stem cell-derived therapeutics. He is a former Board member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and currently serves as a director of Discovery Partners International, BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Cytochroma, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Wales in Cardiff and completed his post-doctoral training at Yale University.
About Novocell, Inc.
Novocell, Inc. is a stem cell engineering company with research operations in Irvine and San Diego, Calif. and Athens, Ga., dedicated to creating, delivering and commercializing cell and drug therapies for diabetes and other chronic diseases. Novocell is the first company to efficiently engineer human embryonic stem cells into definitive endoderm, the gatekeeper cells that differentiate into many other cells, tissues and organs. Novocell has three primary technologies: stem cell-directed lineage, encapsulation and drug discovery. The company was founded in 1999 and merged with CyThera and BresaGen in 2004. For more information, visit www.novocell.com.
Source: Novocell, Inc.
