Capricor, Inc. Appoints Anthony Davies, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Capricor, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company whose cardiac-derived stem cells (CDCs) are being studied as a potentially novel treatment to repair the heart following large heart attacks, announced today that it has appointed Anthony Davies, Ph.D., to the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Davies will be responsible for manufacturing, development and expansion of Capricor’s cell-based therapeutic portfolio and will report to Linda Marbán, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Capricor.

Dr. Marbán said, "Dr. Davies is a 20-year veteran of the biotech industry, 15 years of which have been in cell and gene therapy. He brings with him an impressive track record in manufacturing, operational management and commercial development, most recently as Vice President, Product Development for Geron Corporation’s cell therapy programs. He is an important addition to Capricor’s management team as Capricor proceeds with the ongoing enrollment of ALLSTAR, the Phase I/II study of our lead product candidate, cardiac-stem cell derived CAP-1002."

Prior to joining Geron Corporation, Dr. Davies had a successful career in process development and manufacturing at notable companies such as Serologicals Corporation, Velico Medical, Inc. (formerly ZymeQuest, Inc.) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. While at Onyx, Dr. Davies was part of the development team for Nexavar®, a kinase inhibitor with nearly a billion dollars in worldwide sales.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Davies said, "Having spent a significant part of my career in cell therapy, I view Capricor as the most exciting company in the arena. Capricor’s cardiac stem cell therapy is highly differentiated and addresses the huge unmet need of heart disease. I look forward to working with Dr. Marbán and the Capricor team to bring CAP-1002 to patients.”

Dr. Davies received a MA in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Virology at Oxford and the University of California, San Francisco.

About CAP-1002

CAP-1002, Capricor's lead product candidate, is a proprietary allogeneic adult stem cell therapy for the treatment of cardiac damage resulting from a heart attack. The product is derived from donor heart tissue. The cells are expanded in the laboratory using a specialized process and then introduced directly into a patient’s heart via infusion into a coronary artery using standard cardiac catheterization techniques.

CAP-1002 is currently not an approved product and is strictly for investigational purposes.

About Capricor, Inc.

Los Angeles-based Capricor is a privately held biotechnology company that aims to create powerful, yet easy-to-administer cardiac stem cell treatments to regenerate damaged heart muscle and improve heart function for patients having suffered a heart attack. Using proprietary technology, Capricor is working to develop and commercialize therapies that utilize stem cells that are indigenous to the heart itself. Where most other organizations derive stem cells from a range of pre-cursor and non-cardiac tissues and then attempt to differentiate those cells to become and support heart tissue, Capricor’s work begins and ends with the heart.

Phase II of Capricor’s ALLSTAR clinical trial is funded in part through the support of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.