BOSTON– Gamida Cell Ltd. (Nasdaq: GMDA), the global leader in the development of NAM-enabled cell therapies for patients with hematologic and solid cancers and other serious diseases, today announced that Abigail “Abbey” L. Jenkins, MS, has joined as President & CEO. Ms. Jenkins has also been appointed to Gamida Cell’s Board of Directors. Ms. Jenkins succeeds Julian Adams, Ph.D., who is retiring in accordance with planned succession and will continue to serve on the company’s Board of Directors.
“Abbey is an inspiring leader who brings to Gamida Cell an expertise in building and scaling organizations as they mature through commercialization alongside continued advancement of innovations in R&D. In addition, she is skilled in corporate strategy and is highly respected by her colleagues for her commitments to build strong company cultures focused on patient centric missions,” said Robert Blum, Chairman of Gamida Cell’s Board of Directors. “On behalf of Gamida Cell’s Board, we welcome Abbey and thank Julian for his longstanding commitment to the company’s science and values during a pivotal time during which the company achieved major milestones including the submission of the BLA for omidubicel and the initiation of the clinical development of GDA-201. We look forward to his continued service and scientific counsel to the Board.”
Ms. Jenkins brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry delivering life-enhancing therapies from research to commercialization for patients in need. She served as the Chief Commercial and Business Officer at Lyndra Therapeutics, where she established and led global commercial, business development, corporate strategy and portfolio management across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to Lyndra, she served as Senior Vice President and Business Unit Head of Vaccines at Emergent BioSolutions, where she oversaw the company’s largest therapeutic division from discovery through commercialization. Ms. Jenkins also served as Chief Commercial Officer and U.S. Business Head at Aquinox Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, she has held senior commercial and business development positions at Relypsa, Actavis, Pfizer and Medimmune/AZ.
Ms. Jenkins holds a Master of Science in biotechnology and biotech business enterprise from The Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and biology from Indiana University, and a certificate of achievement in General Management as a Kellogg Executive Scholar. In September, she was recognized by PharmaVoice as one of the top 100 Most Inspiring Leaders, Disrupter category, for change-agents who are defining excellence in leadership in the biopharma industry.
“I am excited to lead Gamida Cell as we work to fulfill our mission of creating cures for blood cancers and serious hematologic diseases. Under Julian’s leadership, the team has built a strong pipeline of next-generation cell therapies that hold the potential to meaningfully change the future of cancer care for patients and healthcare providers,” said Ms. Jenkins. “Our next goal will be to successfully deliver the first-ever allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell therapy, omidubicel, to market if approved and which we believe can expand access and eligibility for cancer patients in need of a stem cell transplant as well as reduce the overall burden on healthcare resources.”
“It has been a distinct honor and a privilege to discover and develop novel medicines over the course of my 40-year career and to serve this company as its CEO these past five years,” said Dr. Adams. “I wish to thank all my Gamida Cell colleagues for their unwavering support as well as their extraordinary efforts to bring our science of NAM-enabled cell therapies closer to benefiting patients with hematologic malignancies. Today, Gamida Cell is in a position of strength, with excellent prospects for the future.”
