CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gamida Cell, a leading cellular and immune therapeutics company, today announced the appointment of Shai Lankry, CPA, MBA, as chief financial officer (CFO). Mr. Lankry brings more than a decade of senior management experience in finance at both public and private companies to his new role as CFO of Gamida Cell. He succeeds Naftali Brikashvili, who will step into the role of vice president, finance and operations at Gamida Cell.
“Shai is a strategic leader with impressive financial, R&D and operational experience,” said Julian Adams, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Gamida Cell. “We are pleased to welcome Shai to our leadership team. His proven track record of driving business results and breadth of financial and transactional experience in the biotech sector will be strong assets to Gamida Cell as we continue to advance our clinical programs in blood cancers and rare genetic diseases.”
Prior to joining Gamida Cell, Mr. Lankry served as a finance director at West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST), a leading global manufacturer in the design and production of delivery systems for injectable medicines, where he led the R&D and operation financials for the company’s Israeli subsidiary. Previously, he served as CFO and Israeli site manager at Macrocure Ltd., a clinical-stage publicly traded biotech company developing therapies for chronic and hard-to-heal wounds, where he played an integral role in the company’s NASDAQ Initial Public Offering process in July 2014, raising a total capital of approximately $54 million. Before joining Macrocure, Mr. Lankry was the finance director at Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd., a division of Ethicon Biosurgery, a Johnson & Johnson company, where in his most recent role, he managed the finance biologics organization at multiple sites worldwide. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lankry was a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in Tel Aviv. Mr. Lankry is a licensed Israeli CPA and holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
“With a diverse pipeline based on Gamida Cell’s NAM technology platform, the company has the potential to bring new treatments to patients with life-threatening diseases,” said Mr. Lankry. “I am thrilled to join Gamida Cell’s experienced leadership team and look forward to contributing to the company’s growth at this exciting time.”
About NiCord
NiCord, the company’s lead clinical program, is under development as a universal bone marrow transplant solution for patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies. NiCord has demonstrated improved efficacy over standard cord blood, including fewer bacterial and fungal infections and a reduction in duration of hospital stays. NiCord has been granted breakthrough status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, making it the first bone marrow transplant alternative to receive this designation. It has also received U.S. and EU orphan drug designation. A phase III study evaluating NiCord in patients with leukemia and lymphoma is ongoing in the United States, Europe and Asia (NCT02730299). For more information on NiCord clinical trials, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
About Gamida Cell
Gamida Cell is a leader in cellular and immune therapeutics dedicated to treating patients with cancer and rare genetic diseases. The company is building a diverse pipeline based on its proprietary NAM technology platform to deliver transformative medicines to patients in need of new treatment options. To learn more about Gamida Cell, including current clinical studies, please visit www.gamida-cell.com and on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
