SmartCella appoints Professor Jan Lundberg to Scientific Advisory Board

SmartCella Holding AB (“SmartCella”) today announces the appointment of Professor Jan Lundberg former Global Head of R&D at Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, to its Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”). The appointment coincides with an SAB meeting focused on identifying priority disease areas and mRNA-encoded payloads most relevant for the company’s induced MSC (iMSC) and Extroducer® delivery platforms.

SmartCella’s SAB consists of global scientific and clinical key opinion leaders and discusses innovation, efficiency, healthcare economics, sustainability, and most importantly, improved patient outcomes across the healthcare system. Professor Jan Lundberg is a Swedish pharmacologist and life sciences executive with a distinguished career bridging academia and global pharma. Formerly Global Head of R&D at Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, he has led the research and development of over 250 drug candidates, resulting in several approved products including Mounjaro (type 2 diabetes), Zepbound (obesity), Taltz (psoriasis), Kisunla (Alzheimer’s disease), and Verzenio (breast cancer). He is also a former professor of pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet with more than 500 scientific papers published. Jan Lundberg has received several major awards, including the Fernström and Jahres prizes, and is an honorary doctor at Uppsala University.

The focus of this week’s SAB was to identify the most promising disease areas and mRNA-encoded payloads that could make effective use of SmartCella’s proprietary iMSC delivery platform, including considerations for systemic versus local delivery. The local delivery approach would utilize SmartCella’s Extroducer®, an endovascular device that enables direct injection to hard-to-reach organs and tumors, for targeted administration. Several disease areas including nephrology, diabetes, immunomodulation, and rare diseases where mRNA payloads could make a significant difference in treating difficult-to-address conditions were discussed.

Professor Anna Martling, SAB Chairperson comments: “We are delighted to welcome Jan Lundberg to the SAB. With his track record of turning science into life-changing medicines, he brings rigor and vision to help shape our strategy for the next generation of therapies.” Anna Martling continues: “This week’s SAB focused on how to best prioritize the broad potential of mRNA as a therapeutic modality. There was a wealth of creative thinking, including considerations of when and how to use iMSC as well as the Extroducer. Achieving targeted and effective therapeutic delivery remains a major challenge across many disease areas. The SAB reached a clear consensus to prioritize exploring renal and fibrotic conditions as promising focus areas.”

The purpose of the SAB is to provide scientific and clinical insights and support SmartCella’s strategic direction, spanning both its research programs and the continued commercialization of the Extroducer®. Read more about SmartCella’s SAB here.

Contact
Nina Nornholm, Head of Communication & Investor Relations +46 708 550 356

About SmartCella
SmartCella is a global biopharma company that combines biotech methods and medical science to develop therapies from living systems and pioneers targeted therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases through delivery solutions and advanced therapy development. Founded in 2014, the company is built on globally renowned science and research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. SmartCella combines novel delivery platforms, such as the Extroducer® (an endovascular delivery device that enables direct injection to hard-to-reach organs and tumors), with in-house development and manufacturing of cell therapies. The company has two operating segments: Targeted Delivery and Regenerative Medicines.

The international team consists of scientists, visionaries, and experienced business leaders, all dedicated to shaping the future of targeted therapies and delivering life-changing treatments to patients.

Read more at www.smartcella.com and follow SmartCella on LinkedIn