Fate Therapeutics Announces New Chief Technical Officer
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Fate Therapeutics Announces New Chief Technical Officer

Pharma Tech Outlook | Monday, June 21, 2021

Dr. Plavsic will be in charge of the company's production, technical, and supply chain operations as Chief Technical Officer.

FREMONT, CA: Fate Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, devoted to developing programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer, announced that Mark Plavsic, DVM, Ph.D., RAC, has been appointed Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Plavsic has more than 20 years of experience leading teams in commercial-scale cGMP production and distribution and clinical-stage process, assay, and formulation development of complex biologics. He will be in charge of the company's production, technical, and supply chain operations as Chief Technical Officer.

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“We are excited to welcome Mark to Fate Therapeutics as we continue to scale our iPSC product platform and prepare to launch our second in-house GMP manufacturing facility to support late-stage clinical and commercial production of our off-the-shelf NK cell and T-cell product candidates,” said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fate Therapeutics. Marks technical excellence in building and leading complex biologics operations and in bringing novel product candidates through to approval and commercial launch is a terrific complement to our management team.”

Dr. Plavsic's global biopharmaceutical experience encompasses end-to-end technical operations in the United States, Europe, and Australia and successful translation and scale-up of complex biologics from preclinical to commercial launch and distribution. Dr. Plavsic was previously SVP Technology Development & Manufacturing at Torque Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing recombinant immune-modulating therapies for cancer, and was previously Chief Technical Officer at Lysogene, a late-stage gene therapy company focused on the treatment of orphan diseases of the central nervous system.

“Engineered cell therapies are changing the treatment landscape for patients with cancer, and I am thrilled to join Fate Therapeutics and lead in the development of off-the-shelf solutions that can maximize patient reach and impact,” said Dr. Plavsic. “Fate Therapeutics founded the field of iPSC-derived, cell-based cancer immunotherapy, and I look forward to working with the team to build a first-class global manufacturing, technical, and supply infrastructure to deliver on late-stage development and commercial product opportunities.”

Dr. Plavsic also spent over ten years at Sanofi Genzyme, where he was the head of product safety and global manufacturing process optimization in Technical Operations and the head of gene therapy development in Technology Development & Manufacturing. Dr. Plavsic held numerous technical leadership positions with AstraZeneca, Q-One Biotech, and Life Technologies before joining Sanofi Genzyme. Dr. Plavsic graduated from the University of Belgrade with a Ph.D. in Virology and Immunology and a DVM in Veterinary Medicine. He is board-certified in Microbiology by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists and is RAC accredited.

Fate Therapeutics granted Dr. Plavsic an option to purchase 18,500 shares of the company's common stock with an exercise price equal to 89.97 dollars, the closing price per share of the firm's common stock as reported by NASDAQ on June 14, 2021, which was the date of Dr. Plavsic's employment with the company and the effective date of the granted option.

The option is a non-qualified stock option that vests over four years, with 25 percent vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and the remaining 75 percent vesting in approximately equal monthly increments over the next 36 months, subject to Dr. Plavsic's continued employment through each vesting date. Dr. Plavsic was also given 38,000 restricted stock units by Fate Therapeutics, with each restricted stock unit equaling one share of the company's common stock.

Subject to Dr. Plavsic's continued employment through each vesting date, twenty-five percent (25 percent) of the restricted stock units vest on the one-year anniversary of the date of commencement of employment, and twenty-five percent (25 percent) vest on each anniversary of the date of commencement of employment after that. According to NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), the option and restricted stock unit award were awarded as an inducement material to Dr. Plavsic entering into employment with Fate Therapeutics issued under the Company's Inducement Equity Plan.

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