CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eGenesis, a biotechnology company revolutionizing the field of transplantation with its multiplexed gene editing platform, today announced the appointment of Ariel Jasie as chief business officer and general counsel. Mr. Jasie brings 15 years of business executive leadership experience and counseling in the biopharmaceutical industry, and joins eGenesis to lead all business development, corporate strategy, and legal activities.
“Ariel has a proven track record as a successful business officer for emerging biotech startups. His diverse skill-set across the continuum of biopharma deal making makes him an invaluable addition to the eGenesis leadership team,” said Paul Sekhri, president and chief executive officer of eGenesis. “We are thrilled to have his additional expertise as we use our unparalleled gene editing platform to create human transplantable organs, tissues and cells in order to help solve the global organ crisis.”
Before eGenesis, Mr. Jasie most recently worked at Dermavant Sciences where he served as the chief business and strategy officer. At Dermavant, he initiated and led business development interactions for both in- and out-licensing efforts, as well as oversaw cross functional teams for both internal and external diligence. Prior, Mr. Jasie was the chief business officer at Codiak Biosciences, where he was responsible for driving all partnering efforts as well as key decision making to help the company realize the highest possible scientific and commercial value for its platform technology. Prior to Codiak, he served as the executive director for business development at Celgene Corporation, where he executed many industry leading deals. Before joining Celgene, Mr. Jasie served as in-house counsel at Reliant Pharmaceuticals through the company's $1.6 billion acquisition to GlaxoSmithKline in 2007. Mr. Jasie completed his J.D. at Brooklyn Law School, and his B.A. in history from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Mr. Jasie commented, “eGenesis’ unique gene-editing platform and the unparalleled expertise of its team highlights the company’s potential to pioneer a much-needed alternative approach to allotransplantation and bring hope to thousands of patients on the organ waitlist. I look forward to leveraging my past experience leading business operations at multiple biopharmaceutical companies, including those with platform technologies, to advance a solution to address the global organ crisis.”
About Transplantation
Currently, there is a tremendous unmet demand for transplantable organs, with more than 118,000 people in need of a lifesaving organ transplant in the U.S. alone. Of those, more than 75,000 people are active waitlist candidates. Allotransplantation, the transplantation of organs, tissues or cells from a donor to a recipient of the same species, is currently failing to meet critical patient needs. This is due to the substantial gap between organ supply and demand, increasing suboptimal organ quality and the continued need for life-long immunosuppressive therapy to sustain the donor organ. The concept of cross-species organ, tissue and cell replacement, known as xenotransplantation, has emerged as a potential alternative option to provide a safe and effective solution for patients currently on the transplant waitlist with the capability to ultimately expand the indications for which transplantation can provide a permanent solution.
About eGenesis
eGenesis is revolutionizing the field of transplantation with an unparalleled, multiplexed gene editing platform for the development of human-compatible organs, tissues and cells. Harnessing the latest gene editing techniques, eGenesis has the capability to solve the global organ crisis by providing an alternative to allotransplantation. eGenesis is uniquely positioned to reinvigorate the field of xenotransplantation by addressing both the key virology and immunology hurdles that have impeded its advancement to date and provide commercially-viable products to save and enhance the lives of patients in need. eGenesis has a clear path forward to advance an initial product to the clinic for at-risk patients on the transplant waitlist, with the longer-term potential of addressing a broader population and expanding the applicability of transplantation into other arenas such as cell therapy.
Media Contact
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be2f7a49-c940-4ff6-8f19-98abe1424339