SEATTLE — Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (Sana), focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, announced today that Josh Bilenker, M.D., Alise Reicin, M.D., and Michelle Seitz, CFA, have been appointed to the Sana Board of Directors.

“Josh, Alise, and Michelle all share a passion and commitment to our long-term vision of engineering cells to make medicines that improve the lives of patients,” said Sana President and CEO Steve Harr. “The diversity of their experiences, backgrounds, and expertise will be critical to our strategy, decision-making, risk-management, and governance. I look forward to working with them to continue to build Sana.”

Dr. Bilenker is CEO of Loxo Oncology at Lilly, a research and development group of Eli Lilly. He joined Eli Lilly when the company acquired Loxo Oncology, Inc., where he had been founding CEO. Prior to Loxo, Dr. Bilenker joined Aisling Capital LLC in April 2006 and has served as an Operating Partner since November 2013. Previously, he served as a medical officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Office of Oncology Drug Products. Dr. Bilenker trained at the University of Pennsylvania in internal medicine and medical oncology, earning board certification in these specialties. He received his M.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his A.B. degree in English from Princeton University.

Dr. Reicin is CEO and President of Tectonic Therapeutic, Inc. Previously, Dr. Reicin was President, Global Clinical Development at Celgene Corporation, overseeing the clinical development organization. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Reicin was the Head of Global Clinical Development at EMD Serono. Prior to joining EMD Serono, Dr. Reicin served as Vice President, Program and Pipeline Leadership, Oncology at Merck and Co. Before joining Merck, Dr. Reicin was a faculty member at Columbia Medical School, and a physician and researcher at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She received her B.S. in biochemistry from Barnard College of Columbia University and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School, where she was enrolled in the Health Sciences and Technology program with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ms. Seitz is Chairman and CEO of Russell Investments. Previously, Ms. Seitz spent 22 years at William Blair, serving 16 years on the firm’s board and as CEO of William Blair Investment Management. She is a member of Challenge Seattle, an alliance of CEOs from the region’s largest employers dedicated to ensuring that Seattle continues to thrive as one of the most globally competitive regions in the world. Ms. Seitz is on the board of the Washington Roundtable and on the Dean’s Council at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, where she graduated with a B.S. in accounting. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and past board member of The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the governance board of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

About Sana

Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making our therapies broadly available to patients. We are more than 250 people working together to create an enduring company that changes how the world treats disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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Dr. Liu joins Sana after more than 17 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Liu most recently served as Associate Director for Cell and Gene Therapy at the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, and Chief of Oncology Branch, in the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Dr. Liu’s oversight included clinical evaluations and approvals of many innovative cancer therapeutics with curative potential, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, T cell receptor (TCR) modified T cells, genome-edited products, neoantigen-based therapies, adoptive T cell therapies, oncolytic viral therapy, dendritic cell therapy, and combinations of these immune-oncologic therapeutics with checkpoint inhibitors and other agents.

“We are thrilled that Ke has chosen to embark on the next phase of his career with Sana,” said Sunil Agarwal, Sana’s Head of Development and Chief Medical Officer. “Sana’s goal is to build a research platform capable of bringing multiple engineered cell-based therapies into human clinical testing, beginning as early as next year. Ke’s deep regulatory understanding and experience in the development of cell and gene therapies broadly, and cancer medications more specifically, will be invaluable as we navigate the challenges ahead in turning our science into therapies that benefit patients.”

“I am excited to join Sana at this critical juncture for the company, as it is planning for its first clinical studies,” Dr. Liu said. “My passion for engineering cells as medicines extends back to my time in basic, translational, and clinical research at the National Cancer Institute, and I am optimistic that these new modalities will change outcomes in a positive way for patients impacted by a number of different diseases. I look forward to contributing my experience and expertise to Sana’s efforts.”

Dr. Liu received his M.D. from Henan Medical University in China and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cornell University. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, his medical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and additional cancer immunotherapy training at the NCI’s Surgery Branch. Dr. Liu is an ABIM-certified medical oncologist and internist and served as an attending medical oncologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making our therapies broadly available to patients. We are more than 250 people working together to create an enduring company that changes how the world treats disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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SEATTLE — Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (Sana), focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, announced today the acquisition of Oscine Corp., a company developing potentially curative or disease modifying cell therapies for diseases of the brain and central nervous system (CNS). The combination will integrate Oscine’s glial progenitor cell program and underlying technologies together with Sana’s broader platform and programs. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“We are excited about the potential of the glial progenitor cell program Oscine has been developing to help patients with a number of different diseases of the brain. Glial progenitor cells and their downstream products disappear or malfunction in many diseases ranging from rare genetic disorders to more common diseases like multiple sclerosis,” said Sana President and CEO Steve Harr. “Steve Goldman is a world-leading scientist and clinician in this area, and we are thrilled to welcome him to Sana to oversee both our efforts with this program and our CNS strategy more broadly.”

Steve Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., was Oscine’s scientific founder and joins Sana as the Head of CNS Therapy. Dr. Goldman is a world leader in central nervous system research with a focus on glial cells. During a 30-year career, he has worked at the University of Rochester as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology, and as Chief of its Division of Cell and Gene Therapy. He also serves as Co-Director of Rochester’s Center for Translational Neuromedicine, a joint enterprise with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He has published over 250 papers, holds over 30 patents, and has served as a voting member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee. Dr. Goldman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, received his M.D. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University, and completed his neurology residency at New York Hospital-Cornell and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in neurology and neuro-oncology, and continues to work on the inpatient service at the University of Rochester Medical Center.  

“I am delighted to be joining Sana at this critical juncture in bringing stem cell-based therapeutics to the clinic,” Goldman noted. “After three decades of research into how to repair the cellular structure of the diseased brain, it is heartening to know that Sana plans to urgently drive these therapies to the clinic to explore their potential benefit for the many patients and their families stricken with these largely incurable diseases.” 

Glial progenitor cells are a key support system of the brain. They differentiate into the major support cells of the central nervous system: oligodendrocytes, which are the only source of myelin production in the adult CNS, and astrocytes, which support neurons and are at the root of many neurodegenerative as well as myelin diseases. These cells either disappear or malfunction in a host of brain disorders. Glial progenitor cells thus have the potential to treat not only myelin disorders, but a broad array of neurodegenerative and even neuropsychiatric diseases of the brain. 

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making our therapies broadly available to patients. We are more than 250 people working together to create an enduring company that changes how the world treats disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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“Ed and Terry are world class scientists who will add tremendously to our scientific leadership team, helping us integrate capabilities that are key to realizing our vision of using engineered cells as medicines,” said Steve Harr, Sana President and CEO. “Ed brings incredible insights, capabilities, and experience in genome editing, control of gene expression, and cell engineering more broadly to make human therapeutics. Terry has successfully developed multiple CAR T therapies now in patients, and his experience as an immunologist, researcher, and clinician will be instrumental in moving our T cell platforms forward.”

Dr. Rebar has over 20 years of experience in developing novel gene editing and cell engineering technologies for therapeutic use. As Sana’s Chief Technology Officer, he is responsible for developing genome editing, gene regulation, cell engineering, analytical genomics and computational biology functions. Prior to joining Sana, Dr. Rebar worked at Sangamo Therapeutics to develop the company’s zinc finger protein platform for therapeutic applications, most recently as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. His work included the development of nucleases and transcription factors for applications in oncology, HIV, hemoglobinopathies, rare diseases and cardiovascular disease, as well as heading the research team that engineered the first TALE-nucleases for high efficiency gene editing.  Dr. Rebar received his Ph.D. from MIT and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Fry is one of the pioneers in developing CAR T therapies for treatment of cancer. In his role as Head of T Cell Therapeutics, he will lead Sana’s T cell therapeutic programs, including separate platforms focused on in vivo generation of CAR T cells and allogeneic CAR T cells, with the goal of developing therapeutics for multiple cancers. Prior to joining Sana, Dr. Fry was a Professor of Pediatrics, Hematology, and Immunology as well as Director of Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado, where he developed several CAR T therapies entering the clinic for hematologic malignancies. Previously, Dr. Fry was the Head of the Hematologic Malignancies Section in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the NIH, where he helped develop both a CD-19 and a CD-22 targeted CAR T therapy, amongst others. Dr. Fry received his M.D. at Georgetown University School of Medicine, completed his residency and chief residency at Georgetown Hospital, his oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and his post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making our therapies broadly available to patients. We are a team of 200 plus scientists, engineers, clinicians, and biotechnology veterans creating an enduring company that makes meaningful medicines and changes how we approach treating disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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With this financing, Sana’s shareholders include ARCH Venture Partners, Flagship Pioneering, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Baillie Gifford, F-Prime Capital, Alaska Permanent Fund, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Bezos Expeditions, GV, Omega Funds, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and multiple unnamed institutional investors. 

“Sana is dedicated to modulating genes in cells as well as replacing damaged cells in the body,” said Steve Harr, Sana President and CEO. “The commitment from this group of long-term investors enables us to concentrate on making discoveries that overcome the most important challenges to making gene and cell therapies that improve the lives of a broad swath of patients. I am proud of our progress to date in turning our technologies into potential therapies for serious diseases such as cancer, central nervous system diseases, heart disease and various genetic disorders.” 

Proceeds from Sana’s financing will be used to advance discovery and development within the company’s core platforms, including gene delivery, immunology, stem cell biology, and gene modification and control. Some approaches include in vivo delivery of genetic payloads to specific cells, ex vivo genetic modifications that hide allogeneic cells from a patient’s immune system, and applying stem cell biology to make differentiated cells to replace missing or damaged tissue. Proceeds are expected to support IND-enabling and initial clinical studies for multiple therapeutic candidates, buildout of manufacturing capabilities, and expansion of the company’s portfolio of enabling technologies. They will also support the continued addition of top talent to Sana’s team. 

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making our therapies broadly available to patients. We are a team of 200 plus scientists, engineers, clinicians and biotechnology veterans creating an enduring company that makes meaningful medicines and changes how we approach treating disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Cambridge, and South San Francisco.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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“Stacey is an extremely talented leader with a successful track record in delivering medicines to patients,” said Steve Harr, Sana President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled she has joined us to lead our mission of building scalable and cost-efficient manufacturing solutions for modulating genes and using cells as medicines. Her experience, capabilities, and expertise in building and leading teams align with our mission and ability to deliver on the promise of our science.”

Prior to Sana, Dr. Ma was Global Head, Pharma Technical Innovation, Manufacturing, Science and Technology (MSAT) for Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. Over her 22-year career, Dr. Ma has had various leadership roles within both Roche and Genentech in diverse areas such as process development, analytical development, quality, technology innovation, and chemical, manufacturing and controls (CMC) strategy for large and small molecules from pre-IND through early commercialization stages.

“Sana’s team and science have the potential to help define the next era of medicine and impact patients’ lives,” said Dr. Ma. “The ability to manufacture and deliver DNA, RNA, and cells to re-program or replace cells gives Sana the potential to treat diseases that today represent some of the most significant unmet needs. I am excited to join Sana and look forward to working with my colleagues to build solutions to democratize access to these potential medicines.”

Dr. Ma holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Yale University. She is a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows. Dr. Ma also co-chaired multiple scientific international conferences and workshops on topics related to CMC development strategies, including several co-sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and the China Food and Drug Administration.

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines for patients. We are a team of scientists, clinicians and biotechnology veterans focused on creating an enduring company that makes meaningful medicines and changes how we approach treating disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, Wash., Cambridge, Mass. and South San Francisco, Calif.

Contact
contact@sana.com

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Sana is bringing together research, development, and manufacturing capabilities across cell therapy, gene therapy, and gene editing as well as a team of executives, board members, investors, and scientists with deep experience in these areas. 

“Cell and gene engineering provide the opportunity to address the underlying cause of disease and provide benefits to patients that have previously been not possible,” said Steve Harr, Sana Co-Founder and CEO. “There are challenges in making and delivering these kinds of medicines to patients, but also the opportunity to treat illnesses that today have few, if any, options. Our goal with Sana is to bring together the people, technologies, and resources needed to address these challenges, changing both how we approach treating disease and what we expect as outcomes for patients.”

The company is building critical core capabilities around –

• Making cells at scale ex vivo to replace any damaged or missing cells in the body,
• In vivo delivery to specific cell types of any payload – including DNA, RNA, and proteins to reprogram cells,
• Immunology expertise to hide allogeneic cells (cells from a donor) or delivery vehicles from the immune system so that the body does not reject or eliminate them,
• Controllable gene and protein expression systems,
• Scaled, cost-efficient manufacturing solutions, and
• Discovery and development of new technologies that will enable the ultimate breadth of application of cell and gene engineering.

“I am thrilled to join the leadership team and board as we launch Sana,” said Hans Bishop, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Sana. “We have assembled a scientific team and a portfolio of potential medicines and technologies from proven scientific innovators, including Flagship Pioneering, Harvard University, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Washington School of Medicine. I look forward to working again with ARCH Venture Partners, focusing on advancing the technologies in the company today as well as bringing in additional technologies and capabilities to make our vision around engineered cells a reality.”

“Flagship Pioneering originates companies that apply new biological breakthroughs to tackle the most intractable challenges in health, and we believe Sana is one of those companies,” said Noubar Afeyan, Sana Co-Founder and Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “We are thrilled about the opportunity to combine the novel, cell-specific in vivo gene delivery platforms pioneered during several years of R&D within Flagship Labs with the other technologies and potential medicines to form Sana. We look forward to collaborating with our co-founders and partners to develop this best-in-class company.”

“ARCH partners with experienced, world-class management teams to assemble the technology, talent, and capital to create companies that solve big problems for patients,” said Robert Nelsen, Sana Co-Founder and Managing Director and Co-Founder of ARCH Venture Partners. “We believe the time is right to commit the resources needed to create a new pillar of medicine that not only treats disease, but hopefully cures it. Sana is a unique company in a transformative time in science, and we believe this team, combined with its co-founders, has the experience, creativity and know-how to make a big impact on medicine.”

Founding Executive Team

• Steve Harr, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
• Sunil Agarwal, M.D., Chief Development Officer and Head of Portfolio Strategy
• Chad Cowan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
• Andy May, DPhil, Chief Technology Officer
• Robin Andrulevich, Chief People Officer
• Nate Hardy, Chief Financial Officer
• Christian Hordo, Chief Business Officer
• James MacDonald, General Counsel

Founding Board of Directors

• Hans Bishop, Executive Chair, former Chief Executive Officer of Juno Therapeutics, Inc.
• Richard Mulligan, Ph.D., Executive Vice Chair, Mallinckrodt Professor of Genetics, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School
• Steve Harr, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Sana
• Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flagship Pioneering
• Tom Daniel, M.D., former President, Research and Early Development, Celgene
• Stephen Knight, M.D., President and Managing Partner, F-Prime Capital
• Robert Nelsen, co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners
• Don Payan, M.D., founder and former Chief Scientific Officer, Rigel Pharmaceuticals
• Pat Yang, Ph.D., former EVP and Head of Technical Operations, Roche/Genentech
• Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Ph.D., Partner, Flagship Pioneering

Founding Scientists

• David Baker, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator
• Chad Cowan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
• Richard Mulligan, Ph.D., Mallinckrodt Professor of Genetics, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School
• Chuck Murry, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine
• Sonja Schrepfer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery, Director of TSI Lab University of California San Francisco
• Scientific team at Flagship Labs led by Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Ph.D.

Investors

• ARCH Venture Partners & F-Prime Capital

About Sana
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicine for patients. We are a team of scientists, clinicians and biotechnology veterans focused on creating an enduring company that makes meaningful medicines and changes how we approach treating disease. Sana has operations in Seattle, WA, Cambridge, MA and South San Francisco, CA.

Contact:
contact@sana.com

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