Washington, D.C., Aug. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the leading international advocacy organization representing the cell and gene therapy sector, today formally announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Timothy D. Hunt as the organization’s next Chief Executive Officer. Hunt will succeed Janet Lynch Lambert, who announced in April her plan to step down as CEO and who served on the Board’s Search Committee. Hunt will start at ARM on September 6.
“We are excited to welcome Tim to the ARM team at such a pivotal moment for our sector,” said Emile Nuwaysir, Chair of the ARM Board and Search Committee, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Ensoma, an in vivo genomic medicines company. “Tim’s two decades of experience advocating for biotechnology companies, knowledge of the key issues facing the cell and gene therapy field, and expertise in leading teams make him the ideal choice to guide ARM in building the future of medicine. Tim has a deep philosophy of engagement with major stakeholders that will support ARM members and help bring cell and gene therapies into mainstream medical practice.”
Hunt was most recently the Chief Culture and Corporate Affairs Officer at Xilio Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing tumor-selective immuno-oncology therapies for patients with cancer. Prior to that, he was the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at CRISPR gene-editing pioneer Editas Medicine, where he led the company’s global policy and government affairs, bioethics, communications, market development and human resources initiatives. He also served in executive public affairs roles at Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Biogen.
Hunt was an Advisory Group member of the Value-Based Payments for Medical Products consortium at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. He also has been a member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization Life Science Cares and has chaired the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT). Hunt previously served as a member of ARM’s Gene Editing Task Force and on the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s Gene Editing Working Group. He received a B.A. in history and philosophy from Boston College and a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.
“I am honored to succeed Janet as Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine and for the tremendous opportunity to build upon her legacy of developing ARM into the leading sector advocate and resource for the industry,” said Hunt. “Cell and gene therapies are already transforming patients’ lives, and we are on the cusp of even more breakthroughs in both rare and prevalent diseases. Our mission is both urgent and clear: to engage all our major stakeholders to ensure the patients we serve have access to the durable and potentially curative therapies of the present and future.”
“Tim is an excellent choice to continue to grow and strengthen this amazing organization and help realize the potential of regenerative medicine,” said Lambert, whose tenure includes doubling ARM’s global membership to 425 members, strengthening the organization’s advocacy in the US and Europe, and building the ARM team.
Cell and gene therapies to treat blood cancers, spinal muscular atrophy, and an inherited form of blindness are approved in the US and Europe. 2022 could be a record year for new gene therapy approvals for rare disease, and regulators in the US and Europe could approve the first such therapies for hemophilia and sickle cell disease in late 2022 and 2023. More than 2,400 regenerative medicine clinical trials — 60% of which targeted prevalent diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular disease — were active globally at the end of 2021. ARM is committed to working with stakeholders to ensure that patients benefit from this rapidly advancing pipeline of transformative therapies.
About The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine
The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) is the leading international advocacy organization dedicated to realizing the promise of regenerative medicines and advanced therapies. ARM promotes legislative, regulatory, reimbursement and manufacturing initiatives to advance this innovative and transformative sector, which includes cell therapies, gene therapies and tissue-engineered therapies. Early products to market have demonstrated profound, durable and potentially curative benefits that are already helping thousands of patients worldwide, many of whom have no other viable treatment options. Hundreds of additional product candidates contribute to a robust pipeline of potentially life-changing regenerative medicines and advanced therapies. In its 12-year history, ARM has become the voice of the sector, representing the interests of 425+ members worldwide, including small and large companies, academic research institutions, major medical centers and patient groups. To learn more about ARM or to become a member, visit http://www.alliancerm.org.
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