Gene Therapy Pioneer Roger Hajjar, MD, Elected to Longeveron® Board of Directors
MIAMI, July 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Longeveron Inc. (NASDAQ:LGVN), a clinical stage regenerative medicine biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for life-threatening and chronic aging-related conditions, today announced that Roger Hajjar, MD, Director of the Gene and Cell Therapy Institute at Mass General Brigham, has been elected to the Longeveron Board of Directors. Dr. Hajjar is an internationally recognized scientist whose cardiac gene therapy discoveries have spurred clinical trials for heart failure, whose methodologies for cardiac-directed gene transfer are currently utilized by investigators around the world, and who was appointed as the inaugural director of the Gene and Cell Therapy Institute. Dr. Hajjar was elected at the Company's recent Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
"I am delighted to welcome Roger, and his tremendous experience as a scientist, academic, and operational executive, to the Board of Directors," said Joshua Hare, Co-founder, Chief Science Officer and Chairman of the Board at Longeveron. "His thought leadership in gene and cell therapy will bring significant value to Longeveron as we continue to advance Lomecel-B™, our proprietary, scalable, allogeneic cellular therapy being evaluated in multiple indications. I look forward to collaborating with him to advance these important therapeutic development programs."
"I am excited to join the Longeveron Board at this important time, both for the Company and in the history of gene therapy," said Dr. Hajjar. "Gene and cell therapy is revolutionizing patient care with the potential to cure diseases or halt their progression. The Lomecel-B™ data generated to date in HLHS and Alzheimer's disease support broad potential for this novel cellular therapy as a regenerative medical therapy across multiple indications and position the Company to potentially profoundly impact affected patients' lives for the better."
Dr. Hajjar's addition to the Board is part of the planned Board refreshment process at Longeveron, with a focus on bringing in new, relevant, experienced leaders over time to add to the knowledge base and experience provided by current and departing Board members.
Dr. Hajjar is an internationally renowned scientific leader in the field of cardiac gene therapy. His laboratory had validated a number of cardiac targets that led to the initiation and completion under his guidance of First-in-Human gene therapy trials in patients with heart failure. He has initiated multiple clinical trials in gene therapy for a variety of cardiovascular diseases.
He has authored over 500 publications and has received numerous awards for his achievements in the field of cardiac gene therapy. Dr. Hajjar received his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology. He completed his training in internal medicine, cardiology, heart failure/cardiac transplantation, and research fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he then directed the Cardiology Laboratory of Integrative Physiology and Imaging. From 2007 to 2018, Dr. Hajjar was the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, and the Arthur & Janet C. Ross Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. From 2019 to 2022, Dr. Hajjar was involved in the creation of a number of gene therapy companies at Flagship Pioneering, Cambridge, MA and he was the head of R&D at Ring Therapeutics.
About Longeveron Inc.
Longeveron is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing regenerative medicines to address unmet medical needs. The Company's lead investigational product is Lomecel-B™, an allogeneic medicinal signaling cell (MSC) therapy product isolated from the bone marrow of young, healthy adult donors. Lomecel-B™ has multiple potential mechanisms of action encompassing pro-vascular, pro-regenerative, anti-inflammatory, and tissue repair and healing effects with broad potential applications across a spectrum of disease areas. Longeveron is currently pursuing three pipeline indications: hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), Alzheimer's disease, and Aging-related Frailty. The Lomecel-B™ HLHS program has received three distinct and important FDA designations: Orphan Drug designation, Fast Track designation, and Rare Pediatric Disease designation. For more information, visit www.longeveron.com or follow Longeveron on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.
Investor Contact:
Derek Cole
Investor Relations Advisory Solutions
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