Frequency Therapeutics Appoints Quentin McCubbin, Ph.D., as Chief Manufacturing Officer
Frequency Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: FREQ) has appointed Quentin McCubbin, Ph.D., as its new chief manufacturing officer. Dr. McCubbin will lead technical operations, including drug product formulation and supply chain management, to bolster the development of the company's product pipeline. He previously held a senior position at Cerevel Therapeutics and has extensive experience at Takeda/Millennium Pharmaceuticals. This strategic hire is aimed at advancing Frequency’s FX-322 program, which seeks to treat sensorineural hearing loss, and expanding its clinical pipeline.
- Appointment of Quentin McCubbin as Chief Manufacturing Officer to strengthen leadership.
- Dr. McCubbin's extensive experience in technical operations could enhance drug development efficiencies.
- Focus on advancing FX-322, which aims to treat a prevalent condition affecting millions.
- Potential concerns regarding continuity in management as new leadership may require time to adjust.
- Dr. McCubbin's success in this role is crucial as the company prepares for larger clinical studies.
Frequency Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: FREQ), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing the body’s innate biology to repair or reverse damage caused by a broad range of degenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Quentin McCubbin, Ph.D., as chief manufacturing officer. Dr. McCubbin will oversee Company technical operations, leading drug product formulation, chemistry manufacturing and controls (CMC) and supply chain, to support the development of Frequency’s pipeline of product candidates.
Dr. McCubbin joins Frequency from Cerevel Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company where he served as head of technical operations. Prior to Cerevel, he spent 19 years at Takeda/Millennium Pharmaceuticals in various roles progressing in responsibility, including six years as vice president of pharmaceutical sciences and global head of process chemistry.
“Quentin’s background and leadership in technical operations will be critical as we prepare for larger studies in support of our lead FX-322 program that aims to treat the most common form of hearing loss, and as we look to diversify and expand our clinical pipeline with a program for remyelination in multiple sclerosis,” said David Lucchino, Frequency’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I am excited to have Quentin join our leadership team and believe his operational and technical expertise will play an essential role as we look to advance and commercialize a medicine for the tens of millions of patients in the U.S. with sensorienural hearing loss, and aim to leverage the broad potential of our progenitor cell activation platform.”
Frequency’s lead product candidate FX-322 is designed to treat the underlying cause of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) by regenerating sensory hair cells by activating progenitor cells already present in the cochlea. Sensory hair cells are responsible for filtering, tuning and converting sounds, enabling people to clearly understand sounds and speech. The Company plans to share interim day-90 group-level data from its Phase 2a study of FX-322 late in Q1 2021, and is planning an end-of-study data read-out in late Q2 2021.
Dr. McCubbin began his career as a chemist, completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Imperial College in London. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Monash University in Australia. He is an inventor on several patents and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles.
“I’m excited to join Frequency at this critical point in the Company’s evolution and to have an opportunity to play a role in advancing potential novel treatments for such profoundly vexing medical conditions,” said Dr. McCubbin. “Frequency’s platform and small molecule approach provides a unique opportunity to pursue a broad range of degenerative diseases and I’m thrilled to be a part of something with the potential to improve quality of life for so many.”
About Frequency Therapeutics
Frequency Therapeutics is a leader in the development of medicines designed to activate progenitor cells within the body to treat degenerative diseases. The Company’s progenitor cell activation (PCA) approach stimulates progenitor cells to create functional tissue with the aim of developing disease modifying therapies. The Company’s lead product candidate, FX-322, is designed to regenerate auditory hair cells to restore hearing function. In a FX-322 Phase 1/2 study, statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in key measures of hearing function in patients with sensorineural hearing loss were observed. FX-322 is being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical studies in patients with sensorineural hearing loss. The Company also is evaluating additional diseases where its PCA approach could create functional tissue, including in a pre-clinical program in multiple sclerosis.
Headquartered in Woburn, Mass., Frequency has an ex-U.S. license and collaboration agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. for FX-322, as well as additional collaboration and licensing agreements with academic and nonprofit research organizations including The Scripps Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Cambridge Enterprises Limited, Mass General Brigham and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information, visit www.frequencytx.com and follow Frequency on Twitter @Frequencytx.
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