ROCKVILLE, Md. - MaxCyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:MXCT; LSE:MXCT), a company specializing in cell-engineering technologies, announced Monday the appointment of Cynthia Collins as a non-executive director to its Board of Directors. Collins, with over four decades of biotech experience, will also join the board's compensation committee.
Collins' career includes leadership roles at Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT), Human Longevity Inc., GE Healthcare's Cell Therapy and Lab Businesses, and GenVec, Inc. Her appointment expands MaxCyte's Board to 10 members.
Maher Masoud, President and CEO of MaxCyte, expressed confidence in Collins' ability to contribute to the company's growth, citing her extensive experience in cell therapy and genetic medicine.
Collins has been at the forefront of innovative treatments, notably as CEO of Editas Medicine, where she oversaw the first patient treatment with an in-vivo gene-edited therapy. Her current board roles span several healthcare companies, including Poseida Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PSTX) and Certara (NASDAQ:CERT), among others.
Collins holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She expressed her enthusiasm for joining MaxCyte's Board, recognizing the company's role in advancing cell and genetic medicine.
The announcement also detailed Collins' prior directorships and partnerships, including her time at DermTech (OTC:DMTKQ), Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year and sold a significant portion of its assets.
MaxCyte's expertise in cell engineering underpins its ExPERT platform, which supports the cell therapy market from discovery through to commercialization of cell-based medicines. The platform includes a range of instruments, disposables, and software protocols, backed by a global intellectual property portfolio.
The information for this article is based on a press release statement from MaxCyte, Inc.
In other recent news, Poseida Therapeutics has made significant strides in its clinical trials and research. The company's investigational CAR-T therapy for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), P-BCMA-ALLO1, has shown promising results in its Phase 1 trial, with a 91% overall response rate reported. Piper Sandler and BTIG maintained their positive ratings on Poseida Therapeutics, with Piper Sandler keeping an Overweight rating and BTIG maintaining a Buy rating.
Poseida Therapeutics, in collaboration with Roche, is advancing a Phase Ib study of P-BCMA-ALLO1, which has demonstrated a favorable safety profile. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the therapy Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation, indicating its potential to address unmet medical needs in the multiple myeloma patient population.
The company is also preparing to present preclinical data on a potential therapy for hereditary angioedema, P-KLKB1-101, at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Furthermore, Poseida Therapeutics is set to present initial data on P-CD19CD20-ALLO1 at the American Society of Hematology meeting and disclose Phase I updates for P-MUC1C-ALLO1 in solid tumors.
Poseida Therapeutics concluded the second quarter of 2024 with $238 million in cash, anticipated to fund operations into the second half of 2025. These are the recent developments in Poseida Therapeutics' mission to advance allogeneic cell therapies and genetic medicines to treat cancer and rare diseases.
InvestingPro Insights
To complement the news of Cynthia Collins joining MaxCyte's board, it's worth examining the financial health of Poseida Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PSTX), one of the companies where Collins currently serves as a director. This insight can provide context to her expertise and the type of companies she's associated with in the biotech sector.
According to InvestingPro data, Poseida Therapeutics has a market capitalization of $242.8 million, reflecting its position as a smaller player in the biotech space. The company's revenue for the last twelve months as of Q2 2023 stood at $88.46 million, with a notable quarterly revenue growth of 29.78% in Q2 2023. This growth suggests that Poseida is in an expansion phase, which aligns with the innovative nature of the cell and gene therapy field that both Poseida and MaxCyte operate in.
However, an InvestingPro Tip indicates that Poseida "suffers from weak gross profit margins." This is evident in the company's gross profit margin of -77.23% for the last twelve months. Another InvestingPro Tip notes that the company is "not profitable over the last twelve months," which is not uncommon for biotech firms investing heavily in research and development.
On a positive note, Poseida "holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet," according to an InvestingPro Tip. This financial position could provide the company with flexibility to fund ongoing research and potential clinical trials, which are crucial in the biotech industry.
For investors interested in a more comprehensive analysis, InvestingPro offers 7 additional tips for Poseida Therapeutics, providing a deeper understanding of the company's financial position and market performance.
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