ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE American and TASE: BTX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for unmet medical needs, today announced that it has appointed Chase C. Leavitt as BioTime’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
“We’re extremely fortunate to have Chase join us and bring his extensive public company experience as well as a strong track record to the role of general counsel,” stated Brian M. Culley, Chief Executive Officer of BioTime. “Chase’s diverse industry experience including SEC compliance, corporate governance, strategic transactions and mergers and acquisitions will be instrumental as BioTime continues to execute on its clinical and operational plans.”
Prior to joining BioTime, Mr. Leavitt served as Vice President of Legal Affairs of Tang Capital Management, LLC, a life sciences-focused investment company, and its affiliate Odonate Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, from June 2018 to May 2019. From May 2017 to May 2018, Mr. Leavitt served as the Deputy General Counsel of Switch, Inc., a publicly traded technology company, and previously served as its Associate General Counsel from July 2014 to May 2017. From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Leavitt was a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, where his practice focused on public company representation, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, serving life sciences and technology companies. Mr. Leavitt received a B.S. in Business Administration and a J.D. from the University of Southern California and is admitted to practice law by the State Bar of California.
About BioTime, Inc.
BioTime is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing new cellular therapies for unmet medical needs. BioTime’s programs are based on its proprietary cell-based therapy platform and associated development and manufacturing capabilities. With this platform BioTime develops and manufactures specialized, terminally-differentiated human cells from its pluripotent and progenitor cell starting materials. These differentiated cells are developed either to replace or support cells that are dysfunctional or absent due to degenerative disease or traumatic injury, or administered as a means of helping the body mount an effective immune response to cancer. BioTime’s clinical assets include (i) OpRegen®, a retinal pigment epithelium transplant therapy in Phase I/IIa development for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world; (ii) OPC1, an oligodendrocyte progenitor cell therapy in Phase I/IIa development for the treatment of acute spinal cord injuries; and (iii) VAC2, an allogeneic cancer immunotherapy of antigen-presenting dendritic cells currently in Phase I development for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. For more information, please visit www.biotimeinc.com or follow the Company on Twitter @BioTimeBTX.
