Oricell Appoints Tom Farrell as President

Shanghai, China & New Jersey, USA (December 2nd, 2024) — Oricell Therapeutics (Oricell), a clinical-stage biotech company dedicated to leading in oncology immunotherapy innovation and focusing on developing advanced cell therapies, today announced the appointment of Tom Farrell as President of the group company. Tom, a visionary biotherapeutics leader with deep experience in cell & gene therapy, brings a successful track record of developing and guiding entrepreneurial organizations from early-stage drug discovery through pivotal trials, securing financing from angel rounds to public markets, and forging transformative strategic relationships.

"I am excited to join Oricell and honored to lead the company as it advances its groundbreaking cancer therapies," said Tom Farrell. "Oricell's OriCAR-017 IIT study and ongoing Phase I results in multiple myeloma highlight the potential of our next generation binder and armoring platforms to deliver best-in-class therapies for countless patients in need. Our deep pipeline leverages these platforms to enhance cell therapy safety and efficacy through affinity-tuned binders, increased high memory T-cell ratios, improved tumor infiltration, resistance to exhaustion in the tumor microenvironment, and prolonged anti-tumor efficacy. I expect our upcoming clinical and commercial milestones to accelerate our emergence as a global cell therapy leader, and I look forward to working with the outstanding Oricell team to turn our vision into a reality."

“Tom brings over two decades of exceptional operational, CMC, clinical development  experience in Cell and Gene Therapy, oncology, and immunology, hailing from the pre-CAR-T era. As founding CEO of two NASDAQ-listed cell therapy companies, Artiva Biotherapeutics and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, which he successfully led from early-stage development into clinical trials, demonstrating a proven track record of fund-raising, business development and other critical achievements. Tom is a transformative leader who has consistenly delivered results. We believe he will undoubtedly accelerate our clinical development momentum in the US”said Helen Yang, Co-founder and CEO. “The Board and I are excited to have him join our team to advance our novel GPRC5D mono- and bispecific targeting CAR-T product candidates and solid tumor pipeline, including the GPC3-targeting CAR-T Ori-C101, through clinical trials. We look forward to his invaluable contributions as we strive to bring differentiated cell therapies to patients.”

About Oricell Therapeutics

Oricell is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing innovative cell therapies to address unmet medical needs in oncology and immunology around the world. With Ori®Ab, Ori®CAR technology platforms, and unique CMC know-how, Oricell has developed a broad portfolio of pipeline programs for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. These therapies have demonstrated well-tolerated and substantial efficacy in exploratory clinical studies. The related clinical results were presented at international conferences and published in international academic journals, including the 2021 ASCO, 2022 ASCO, 2022 EHA, 2024 ASCO, 2024 SITC, 2024 ASH and The Lancet Haematology.

Forward-Looking Statements

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