The Royal Free & University College Medical School

- Dr. Theocharous brings experience leading hematology/oncology assets, including cell therapies, through clinical development - CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Garuda Therapeutics (Garuda), a company creating off-the-shelf, durable blood stem cell-based cellular therapies, today announced the appointment of Panteli Theocharous, Ph.D., FRCPath as Chief Therapeutics Officer. To the role, Dr. Theocharous brings experience leading multiple hematology and oncology assets into and through clinical development and beyond. He previously served as Global Head, Cell and Gene Therapy Strategy Lead at PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. “As Garuda continues to advance our off-the-shelf durable blood stem cell and immune cell programs, Dr. Theocharous’ experience driving HSC-based cellular therapies across all phases of development will be invaluable,” said Dhvanit Shah, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Garuda. “In this new role, Dr. Theocharous will focus on clinical operations and on medical aspects of product development, helping to bring our potentially transformative therapies to patients with a broad range of severe and life-threatening diseases.” Dr. Theocharous brings extensive experience in clinical development of numerous assets in malignant and benign hematological disorders, life cycle management, as well as regulatory and payer submissions. Specifically, Dr. Theocharous led development of first-generation clinical CAR-T, novel cell therapy applications in malignant diseases, and gene-directed therapies in benign disorders. Most recently, Dr. Theocharous served as Global Head, Cell and Gene Therapy Strategy Lead at PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Prior to PPD, Dr. Theocharous held global Clinical and Medical Affairs leadership roles at Cell Therapeutics Inc. and Janssen Oncology, and was Director for Stem Cell Transplantation and Advanced Therapies at the Royal Free Hospital in London. In the clinical arena, Dr. Theocharous worked with Professor A. Victor Hoffbrand in hematologic disorders and under mentorship by Professor H. Grant Prentice in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Dr. Theocharous received an MS in applied clinical hematology, and cancer medicine related higher degrees from the Royal Free and University College Medical School at the University of London. “Joining Garuda brings me back to my roots in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and I am honored to join the team which is working to bring innovative and ground-breaking cell-based therapies to millions of patients that are awaiting new treatment options,” said Dr. Theocharous. “In my previous roles, I have brought a laser focus on time-bound delivery and positively influencing the patient experience and journey, and I look forward to continuing this impactful and important work at Garuda.” About Garuda Therapeutics Garuda Therapeutics seeks to create a world that eliminates the dependency on donor or patient cells for blood stem cell transplants. Our platform technology for generating off-the-shelf, self-renewing blood stem cells is poised to provide patients with rapid and broad access to consistent, durable, HLA-compatible and transgene-free blood stem cell therapies. Like bone marrow transplants, our technology could provide potentially curative therapies for more than 120 diseases.