Kincell Bio promotes Bruce Thompson to President and Chief Technology Officer

Cell therapy-focused contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Kincell Bio has made a trio of promotions to its senior leadership team.

The US firm has promoted its founding CEO Bruce Thompson to President and Chief Technology Officer and elevated Melodie Bryce to Chief Quality Officer and Matt Haines to Chief Operations Officer.

Kincell Bio’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Pitcher said: “Bruce, Melodie and Matt have demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise, and their expanded roles further strengthen our ability to deliver innovative, high-quality solutions for our clients while accelerating access to transformative therapies for patients.

“Together with our highly skilled teams, we will continue to expand our clinical development and commercial supply infrastructure, accelerate technology transfer and strengthen our commitment to delivering life-changing cell therapies efficiently and reliably.”

Thompson’s prior leadership roles include VP of Process Sciences at Lyell Immunopharma. He has also held technical and operational leadership positions at Resilience and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he led GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products.

Bryce has nearly three decades of experience in quality leadership, spanning cell therapy, antibody and aseptic production, previously held senior quality leadership roles at KBI Biopharma, Cognate BioServices, Matica Biotechnology and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.

Meanwhile, Haines brings to his new role over 20 years of biotech experience, specialising in manufacturing sciences and operations at Biogen, Amgen and Merck. Before joining Kincell, he served as VP of Manufacturing Operations at Inceptor Bio, a cell therapy innovator, and Senior Director at AveXis/Novartis Gene Therapies.