Rubius Therapeutics Appoints Spencer Fisk as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--February 20, 2018 --Rubius Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering the creation of a new class of extraordinarily active, ready-to-use and life-changing cellular therapies, today announced the appointment of Spencer Fisk as Senior Vice President, Manufacturing. Mr. Fisk brings to Rubius nearly thirty years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience. Mr. Fisk joins Rubius from Novartis, where he most recently served as Vice President & Global Head of Cell and Gene Technical Development and Manufacturing.

“Spencer is joining Rubius at an exciting time. We are expanding our manufacturing and development organizations as we are preparing to advance the first wave of RCTs into clinical development,” said Torben Straight Nissen, Ph.D., President of Rubius Therapeutics. “Spencer’s expertise and decades of experience in process development and manufacturing will be invaluable. I look forward to working closely together as we continue to deliver on the promise of the next generation of cellular therapeutics for patients in need.”

Mr. Fisk spent the last six years at Novartis, where he most recently led the CMC development and manufacturing organization to deliver the CAR-T portfolio for the company, and successfully registered and launched Kymriah^TM. He was also a key driver in the registration of Cosentyx® and supported the registration and approval of Erelzi® and Rixathon®. Prior to Novartis, Mr. Fisk held leadership positions in the areas of Manufacturing and Process Development at Merck and Schering Plough.

“Rubius is developing an entirely new class of ready-to-use cell therapeutics to treat cancer, autoimmune disorders and rare diseases,” said Spencer Fisk. “I look forward to leveraging the expertise I’ve gained while working with larger pharmaceutical companies to help Rubius take its extraordinary RCT pipeline into the clinic.”

“We are very pleased that Spencer is joining Rubius and have been thrilled with the level of talent we’ve been able to attract to the management team,” said David Epstein, Executive Chairman of Rubius. “This is directly attributable to the strong company culture, potential of the science, and our dedication to patients.”

About Rubius Therapeutics

Rubius Therapeutics, a 2017 “Fierce 15” award winner, is creating RCTs™ as a new class of medicines. Leading applications include programs in cancer, enzyme deficiency diseases and the induction of tolerance to treat autoimmune disease. The company was conceived and launched by Flagship VentureLabs®, the innovation foundry where a team of scientific entrepreneurs systematically evolve enterprising ideas based upon previously undiscovered areas of science into real-world inventions and ventures. Rubius® was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2014. For more information please visit www.rubiustx.com.

About RCT™ Products

RCT™ products are genetically engineered, enucleated red cells that are being developed to provide allogeneic, ready-to-use cellular therapies to patients across multiple therapeutic areas. The advantages of RCT products over other therapies include immuno-privileged presentation of proteins within or on the red cell, high target avidity and affinity, and long circulation half-life. Rubius RCTs exhibit fundamentally unique and potent biology; they have been engineered to replace missing enzymes for patients living with a variety of rare diseases, to kill tumors, and to upregulate or downregulate the immune system to treat both cancer and autoimmune disorders.