Bone Therapeutics appoints Stefanos Theoharis as chief business officer

Gosselies, Belgium, 26 March 2020 - BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, today announces that it is further strengthening its management team with the appointment of Stefanos Theoharis, PhD, as chief business officer (CBO). 

Stefanos will be responsible for the company’s corporate development activities and executing its business strategy. His immediate priorities will be concentrating on partnering Bone Therapeutics products and in-licensing innovations. He will also further develop the commercial strategies for the product portfolio and cell therapy platform.

“At this stage of the development of Bone Therapeutics, it is very important to appoint a proven executive with a high level of business experience to achieve our next set of commercial goals,” said Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, chief executive officer of Bone Therapeutics. “Stefanos has gathered considerable achievements in business development at both rapidly growing biotech and global biopharma companies, coupled with an extensive expertise in cell therapy drug development and manufacturing. His diverse skill set, which includes licensing, M&A transactions and R&D partnerships, will be invaluable to bolster our business initiatives as we continue to advance our mid- to late stage product pipeline through clinical development with a potential commercialization in sight.”

Stefanos will contribute more than 15 years of business development experience in the pharma and biotech industry to Bone Therapeutics, specifically in the cell and gene therapy space. This includes his achievements as Senior Vice-President at Cell Medica, a clinical-stage biotech company, where he expanded the company’s allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy platform through strategic partnerships with leading research institutions and targeted acquisitions. Prior to Cell Medica, Stefanos was Chief Business Officer at apceth GmbH, a company developing genetically-engineered mesenchymal stromal (MSC) cell products and also acting as a contract manufacturer in the ATMP space. He led all apceth’s business development activities, including in- and out-licensing and service contracts negotiations. He also held positions as Head of Business Development at the antisense RNA drug specialist Antisense Pharma (now Isarna), and Director Business Development at Roche, focused on partnering activities in emerging science and technologies. Stefanos also worked at Lazard, the global investment bank, advising to a variety of life sciences firms on M&As and financing transactions. Stefanos achieved an MSc. in Molecular Medicine and a PhD in Pathology and Immunology from Imperial College London.

“I really wanted to join a cell therapy company where I was able to make a significant difference to the company, the wider field and patients’ outcomes. With an innovative allogeneic, off the shelf, cell therapy platform and a potentially best-in-class knee osteoarthritic pain treatment, Bone Therapeutics is uniquely positioned to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients with severe orthopaedic conditions,” said Stefanos Theoharis, PhD, Chief Business Officer of Bone Therapeutics. “As both products are entering advanced stage clinical trials, I’m delighted to join the company at such a critical time and I look forward to working with its talented leadership and scientific teams to take these promising treatments to market.”

About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative products to address high unmet needs in orthopedics and bone diseases. The Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapies and an innovative biological product in later-stage clinical development, which target markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation. 

Bone Therapeutics is developing an off-the-shelf protein solution, JTA-004, which is entering Phase III development for the treatment of pain in knee osteoarthritis. Positive Phase IIb efficacy results in patients with knee osteoarthritis showed a statistically significant improvement in pain relief compared to a leading viscosupplement. The clinical trial application (CTA) for the pivotal Phase III program has been approved by the Danish relevant authorities allowing the start of the study.

Bone Therapeutics’ other core technology is based on its cutting-edge allogeneic cell therapy platform (ALLOB) which can be stored at the point of use in the hospital, and uses a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stem cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery, and are produced via a proprietary, scalable cutting-edge manufacturing process. Following the CTA approval by the Belgian regulatory authority, the Company is ready to start the Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult tibial fractures, using its optimized production process.

The ALLOB platform technology has multiple applications and will continue to be evaluated in other indications including spinal fusion, osteotomy and maxillofacial and dental applications.

Bone Therapeutics’ cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are protected by a broad IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio covering ten patent families as well as knowhow. The Company is based in the BioPark in Gosselies, Belgium. Further information is available at www.bonetherapeutics.com.