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.
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