Curate Biosciences Adds Mayo Pujols to its Board of Directors

Pujols brings extensive cell and gene therapy manufacturing experience to the Curate Board

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Curate Biosciences, a key enabling technology company for cell therapy manufacturing, today announced that Mayo Pujols, Chief Technical Officer of late-stage gene therapy biotech Rocket Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed to its Board of Directors. Mr. Pujols has worked in biopharmaceutical manufacturing for nearly thirty years including managing cell and gene therapy manufacturing operations for Novartis, Celgene, and Andelyn Biosciences, before joining Rocket as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and Executive Vice President in July of this year. His guidance will help Curate Biosciences through the initial commercialization of its Curate® Cell Processing System in early 2023, as it capitalizes on the platform's promise to broaden access to curative cell therapies.

"Mayo's experienced hand in CAR-T cell therapy manufacturing is a strong contribution to our company at this pivotal time," said Mike Grisham, CEO of Curate Biosciences. "Our Curate System knocks down the barriers of high cost and limited patient access to life-saving therapies. Mayo's guidance will be invaluable in framing our commercialization and ongoing product releases to meet the needs of cell therapy manufacturers."

While at Celgene, Mr. Pujols was Vice President of Global CAR-T Operations and Technology, where he was responsible for the global manufacturing scale-up of the cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi®), now marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb. Later, as Vice President and Head of Global Cell and Gene Technical Development and Manufacturing for Novartis, he oversaw manufacturing and development of the pharma's cell and gene therapy franchise.

"This is a great time to join Curate, as hundreds of companies are developing cell therapies and launching clinical trials," said Pujols. "Potential partners are eagerly awaiting the commercial launch of the Curate® System for its ability to reduce the complexity, costs, and duration of manufacturing CAR-T and other curative cell therapies."

Curate Biosciences is a life science company located in Carlsbad, CA, developing what standard cell processing technologies have failed to provide: the best quality starting material to dramatically reduce the total vein-to-vein cost. Curate Biosciences is advancing its platform technology – The Curate^® Cell Processing System – to allow a faster path to cleaner and larger quantities of starting cells, one of the significant bottlenecks in gene and cell therapies. The Curate^® Cell Processing System gently isolates leukocytes using Deterministic Cell Separation™ (DCS), an advanced, high-speed microfluidic technology that gently separates cells based on size. Optimized for processing apheresis and cell culture samples, the Curate platform obtains larger quantities of healthier leukocytes compared to other separation technologies.

For more information: www.curatebio.com

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SOURCE Curate Biosciences