Cesca Forms Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board, Names First Member

Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based Cesca Therapeutics Inc., an autologous cell-based regenerative medicine company, has formed a new clinical and scientific advisory board (CSAB) and appointed Solomon Hamburg M.D., Ph.D., as its first member.

The CSAB was formed to help set strategic goals for the advancement of research towards the development and commercialization of autologous cellular therapies to improve patient care in the fields of hematology/oncology, cardiovascular and orthopedic indications. It will review evidence-based practices, identify training needs of network providers, identify reimbursement processes and monitor clinical guidelines that include cultural factors important in achieving optimum patient outcomes. Cesca Therapeutics hopes to fill the board with leading scientists, researchers and clinicians drawn from the regenerative medicine field who have led landmark clinical research in hematology/oncology, cardiovascular and orthopedic development.

Hamburg is a graduate of the New York University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the New York Hospital Cornell Medical School and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, he was a bone-marrow transplantation fellow. Hamburg is a partner at Tower Hematology Oncology Medical Group, a Cedars Sinai Medical Center company, and is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in hematology, medical oncology and internal medicine. He currently serves as a clinical professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine and as the CEO of the Tower Cancer Research Foundation. Hamburg will serve as chairman of the hematopoietic stem cell therapy and bone marrow transplant committees for the CSAB.

“The formation of this advisory board speaks to Cesca’s continued commitment to support the highest quality scientific and clinical research,” CEO Matthew Plavan said in a news release. “Dr. Hamburg’s experience and expert guidance will play a critical role in guiding our research and product development pipeline initiatives as we continue to build Cesca’s position in autologous cell-based therapy.”

According to the company, additional members will be added in the near term to broaden the CSAB’s clinical specialties and reflect the international nature of Cesca’s research.