Cell Therapies names new CEO

Melbourne-based cellular therapy manufacturer and distributor Cell Therapies has appointed Dr Tim Oldham as its new CEO.

Oldham has more than a decade of experience in the life science sector, having held various positions including president of Asia-Pacific for Hospira and a series of senior management roles at Mayne Pharma. He is currently a director of Acrux (ASX:ACR) and iSonea (ASX:ISN).

Oldham is replacing founding CEO and managing director Ray Wood, who will continue on as a director.

Announcing the appointment, Cell Therapies said Oldham has been selected to implement the company’s aggressive growth plan.

“As late-stage and improved product numbers grow, scaling manufacturing up and out to reliably deliver a time-sensitive, patient-specific product with needle-to-needle control is becoming the challenge facing the cell-based therapies industry,” Oldham said.

“Cell Therapies’ unique expertise is solving this challenge. I am very excited to have been chosen to build on this expertise and grow our contract manufacturing and approved product distribution business into South-East Asia.”

The company is in talks to acquire distribution rights to a number of late-stage products, is upgrading its Melbourne manufacturing capacity and is in talks with a partner to develop a new facility in Malaysia.

The company licensed a second-generation cartilage repair product from Medipost in January 2013.