Celularity, the clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Florham Park, has appointed an awarding-winning clinician to serve as its new president.
Dr. Andrew Pecora will provide senior leadership to advance Celularity’s clinical pipeline toward U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, the company said in a statement.
“Building on our recent Nasdaq listing, Andrew’s proven track record as an executive leader in biotechnology and health care innovation, delivery and reimbursement will help take Celularity to the next level as we advance our clinical pipeline of next-generation, placental-derived cellular therapeutic candidates,” Chair and CEO Dr. Robert Hariri said.
Pecora, an expert in blood and bone marrow stem cell transplantation, drug development and the advancement of novel cell therapies, will report to Hariri. The two trained together at the Weill Cornell Medical Center.
“I am excited to take on this new role at Celularity,” Pecora said. “I have been very impressed by the early clinical insights and underlying translational science of these novel, placental-derived, off-the-shelf cellular medicines.”
Pecora is a professor of medicine at Georgetown University, as well as founder and chairman of data analytics company Cota. He previously served as co-founder and CEO of Progenitor Cell Therapy and was instrumental in obtaining FDA approval for the first cell therapy used to treat advanced prostate cancer.
“The potential of Celularity’s clinical pipeline, including its CYNK-101, CyCART-19 and APPL-001 programs, is tremendous,” Pecora said. “I look forward to providing leadership and strategic vision, working with Bob and his team to realize the potential of these novel allogeneic cell therapies for patients with cancer, infectious disease and degenerative disease.”
