MaxCyte Appoints New Executive Vice President, Business Development for CARMA™ Cellular Therapies and Provides Clinical Trial Update

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MaxCyte, the global clinical-stage cell-based therapies and life sciences company, announced today that Shruti Abbato has joined the Company as Executive Vice President, Business Development for CARMA Cellular Therapies. Ms. Abbato will lead development of new partnerships for the Company's CARMA platform programmes. 

MaxCyte is currently investigating MCY-M11, its wholly-owned, non-viral mRNA-based cell therapy candidate from its CARMA platform and commenced dosing in the third cohort of a Phase I dose-escalation trial in October 2019.  The mesothelin-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy completed dosing of the second cohort of patients with relapsed/refractory ovarian cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma, with no dose-limited toxicities or related serious adverse events observed. A fourth dosing cohort is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2020 and the trial remains on track to report preliminary clinical trial results by mid-2020.   

Before joining MaxCyte, Ms. Abbato served as Vice President of Business Development at Celdara Medical, where she was responsible for all out-licensing and exit-related transactions and product planning activities. Previously, Ms. Abbato was Principal and Owner of Perspicere, providing business development, strategy, and planning services to biotechnology companies. Prior, she was responsible for search and evaluation, in- and out-licensing transactions, merger and acquisition, and spin-out activities at Human Genome Sciences for 12 years. Ms. Abbato holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a BS in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park.

"We welcome Shruti to MaxCyte and feel fortunate to have her leading our CARMA business development activities. We are moving the MCY-M11 program successfully through the third dose cohort of our Phase I clinical trial and, to date, treatment with our lead clinical candidate has been well tolerated. No dose-limiting toxicities or related serious adverse events have been observed. In addition, we have further proven our rapid one-day manufacturing process," said MaxCyte President & CEO Doug Doerfler. "Shruti's extensive experience will be an invaluable asset to the eventual CARMA company as we seek investors and new partnerships for our CARMA platform to help advance the platform and the development of new drug candidates."

CARMA, MaxCyte's clinical-stage, non-viral, mRNA-based cell therapy platform, allows for the transfection of mRNA into cells and provides a simple, rapid-to-manufacture, dose-controllable product. CARMA requires less than one day for manufacture therapies for patients, where existing CAR-T therapies require one to two weeks or more to manufacture.

"I am very pleased to join the innovative team at MaxCyte and look forward to helping to build and grow MaxCyte's CARMA cell therapy business by leading the strategic planning and execution of all business development activities related to the CARMA-based platform," said Ms. Abbato.

About MaxCyte
MaxCyte is a clinical-stage global cell-based therapies and life sciences company applying its proprietary cell engineering platform to deliver the advances of cell-based medicine to patients with high unmet medical needs. MaxCyte is developing novel CARMA therapies for its own pipeline, with its first drug candidate in a Phase I clinical trial. CARMA is MaxCyte's mRNA-based proprietary therapeutic platform for autologous cell therapy for the treatment of solid cancers. In addition, through its life sciences business, MaxCyte leverages its Flow Electroporation Technology to enable its biopharmaceutical partners to advance the development of innovative medicines, particularly in cell therapy. MaxCyte has placed its flow electroporation instruments worldwide, including with all of the top ten global biopharmaceutical companies. The Company now has more than 80 partnered programme licenses in cell therapy with more than 45 licensed for clinical use. With its robust delivery technology platform, MaxCyte helps its partners to unlock the full potential of their products. For more information, visit www.maxcyte.com.

SOURCE MaxCyte, Inc.

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