WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frequency Therapeutics, a biotechnology company spearheading the movement to harness the regenerative potential of target populations of progenitor stem cells within the body, today announced the appointment of William W. Chin, M.D., to Chief Medical Officer. Previously, Dr. Chin was SVP, Drug Discovery and Clinical Investigation at Eli Lilly, and EVP of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
“Bill joins Frequency at a pivotal point in our growth. With our clinical-stage hearing regeneration program advancing to plan, we are now strategically expanding our Progenitor Cell Activation (PCA) efforts into additional therapeutic indications,” said David Lucchino, President, Co-founder and CEO of Frequency. “Dr. Chin’s visionary work on translational research at Eli Lilly and Harvard Medical School, where he connected deep biological discoveries and translated them into compelling clinical programs, mirrors the work Frequency is doing with our PCA Regeneration platform.”
Dr. Chin comes to Frequency following the company’s recent announcements on additional areas of focus for therapeutic development with the company’s PCA Regeneration platform. First, a joint collaboration with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research will explore PCA opportunities in muscle indications. Second, a grant from JDRF which will be used to study a small molecule approach to convert intestinal stem cells into cells capable of glucose-sensitive insulin secretion for the treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D). These collaborations highlight the breadth of opportunities where PCA Regeneration could have profound therapeutic impact and where Dr. Chin will help drive research and development. Other potential applications include skin disorders, gastrointestinal conditions and demyelinating diseases.
“Frequency is addressing the complexity of regenerative medicine with its interdisciplinary approach building on basic scientific research to create new therapies, while at the same time presenting the opportunity to address numerous diseases such as hearing loss, demyelinating diseases, skin disorders and gastrointestinal conditions, all areas with profound unmet needs,” said Dr. Chin. “I am fortunate to join a revolutionary company such as Frequency, which is positioned to change the way we develop therapeutics and treat disease on a foundational level.”
William W. Chin, M.D., is formerly the Executive Vice President for Science and Regulatory Advocacy and Chief Medical Officer at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) where he led PhRMA’s continuing efforts in science and regulatory advocacy in the drug discovery and development ecosystem. Prior to PhRMA, he was the Executive Dean for Research, Bertarelli Professor of Translational Medical Science and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) from 2010 to 2013. Before that, he was at Eli Lilly and Company last as Senior Vice President for Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Chin is a Harvard-trained endocrinologist and longstanding faculty member. His career is exemplified in part by his extensive bibliography of nearly 300 papers, chapters and books, most of which were generated during his 25 years on the Harvard Medical School faculty. During this time, Dr. Chin was Chief of the Genetics Division in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Professor of Medicine at HMS. As a pioneering molecular endocrinologist at Harvard, Dr. Chin embraced the early use of emerging DNA technology to make important discoveries regarding the structure, function and regulation of hormone genes. His investigations often demonstrated a translational research theme, connecting basic laboratory discoveries to their physiologic relevance in animal models and humans. He has been honored with numerous awards for research, mentorship and leadership. Dr. Chin received his A.B. in Chemistry from Columbia University, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
ABOUT PCA REGENERATION
Frequency’s Progenitor Cell
Activation, or PCA Regeneration, platform targets the root cause of
disease without removing stem cells from the body. This approach avoids
the generational and systemic issues that arise with traditional cell or
gene therapy. PCA uses proprietary small molecules to awaken dormant
progenitor cells already in the body to restore healthy tissue. PCA
Regeneration transiently causes innate progenitor cells to divide and
differentiate to initiate repair, in a way similar to naturally
regenerating tissues such as the skin and intestine. Frequency’s elegant
approach, which reduces the complexity of regenerative medicine, has the
potential to yield a whole new category of disease-modifying
therapeutics for a wide range of degenerative conditions including
hearing loss, demyelination diseases, skin disorders and
gastrointestinal conditions.
ABOUT FREQUENCY THERAPEUTICS
Frequency Therapeutics develops
small molecule drugs to stimulate cells in the body to reverse
biological deficits and restore healthy tissue. Through the transitory
activation of these cells, Frequency enables disease modification
without the complexity of genetic engineering. Our breakthrough therapy
uses a proprietary combination of small-molecule drugs that induce
progenitor cells to multiply and create new cells. Our platform
technology is founded on discoveries in progenitor cell biology by the
labs of Bob Langer, Sc.D. at MIT and Jeff Karp, Ph.D., at Harvard
Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital. www.frequencytx.com.
