13 June 2016 | News | By BioSpectrum Bureau
Cynata appoints Paul K Wotton to Board of Directors
Singapore: Australian stem cell and regenerative medicine company, Cynata Therapeutics Limited, has announced that highly regarded and experienced biopharmaceutical industry executive, Dr Paul K Wotton, has joined the Cynata Board of Directors.
Dr Wotton has a track record of leading companies to clinical, financial and commercial success, most recently demonstrated in his stewardship of Ocata Therapeutics Inc, a US-based stem cell therapy company, culminating in the recent acquisition of that company by Astellas Pharma Inc, in a $379 million all cash transaction.
Dr Wotton has more than 30 years' experience in the pharmaceuticals and biotech industry. He served as CEO and President of Ocata Therapeutics from July 2014 until the completion of the Astellas acquisition in February of 2016.
Prior to that, he served for 6 years as CEO and President of Antares Pharma Inc. Before leading Antares Pharma he held various senior executive roles in large- and mid-cap pharma and biotech companies in the USA and Europe. He is a member of the board of Vericel Corporation, a US company developing autologous cellular therapies. Dr Wotton is a pharmacist by training with both a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from Kingston Business School in the U.K. In 2014 he was named New Jersey EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences.
"Cynata's unique and proprietary mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) manufacturing technology, Cymerus, represents a revolutionary breakthrough in the commercial progress of MSC-based therapeutics," said Dr Wotton. "Cymerus addresses a clear industry need for a new generation MSC manufacturing process that can cost-efficiently produce commercial quantities of premium clinical grade MSCs. I am delighted to join Cynata at this very exciting time for the company and for regenerative medicine in general where cell therapy technology is now making important advances."