Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board and Executive Appointment

Published: 2026-04-13 16:13:05 ET LCTX

Published on 04/13/2026 at 04:13 pm EDT

Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. announced the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to provide strategic counsel and insights into the development of Lineage?s novel cell transplant pipeline, built on the Company?s proprietary cell differentiation and expansion platform, AlloSCOPE (Allogeneic, Scalable, Consistent, Off-the-shelf, Pluripotent Cell Engineering). The founding member of the SAB is Joachim Fruebis, Ph.D., a recognized and established executive, who brings extensive experience across ophthalmology, neurology, diabetes, and other key therapeutic areas, in addition to pioneering cell therapy strategies and integrating cutting-edge technologies and approaches to accelerate drug discovery timelines. Additional SAB members are expected to be added throughout the remainder of the year.

In addition, the company announce the appointment of Priyantha Herath, M.D., Ph.D., as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Operations for Lineage. Dr. Fruebis is an accomplished scientist and leader with an extensive career driving R&D innovation in the Biotech and Pharma sectors. His in-depth expertise spans small molecules, biologics, and advanced therapies across multiple therapeutic areas including ophthalmology, neurology, diabetes and obesity, cardiovascular, metabolic, and rare diseases.

His experience includes pioneering cell therapy strategies and integrating cutting-edge technologies and approaches to accelerate drug discovery timelines. He has an established record in executive leadership functions, launching program portfolios and coordinating internal and external research initiatives. He has a recognized ability to bring together diverse teams across disciplines and modalities, providing innovative solutions and strategic leadership to advance new therapies from conception to commercialization alongside a strong track record in establishing organizations, business development, mergers and acquisitions.

Dr. Fruebis most recently served as Corporate Vice President, Cell Therapy R&D at Novo Nordisk, and before that, served as Chief Development Officer at BlueRock Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to BlueRock, he served as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development at Bioverativ (a Sanofi company), where he was responsible for developing Bioverativ?s rare disease program portfolio. Prior to Bioverativ, Dr. Fruebis served as Vice President, Senior Global Program Head for multiple disease areas, including hematology and ophthalmology at Bayer, a role in which he led cross-functional global teams responsible for the late-stage clinical development and commercialization of multiple products including the franchises for Eylea®, Kovaltry® and Jivi®. Prior to Bayer, Dr. Fruebis served as Vice President, External R&D Innovation at Pfizer, a role in which he was responsible for the rare disease, ophthalmology, and cardiovascular/metabolic therapeutic areas.

Dr. Fruebis received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Biology from the University Kaiserslautern, Germany for work conducted at UC San Diego, Department of Medicine. Priyantha Herath, M.D., Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Operations, Lineage Dr. Herath is a U.S. Board-certified specialist neurologist, with wide-ranging expertise in clinical development from early translational, first-in-human trials through to successful completion of multiple Phase III studies. Dr. Herath has broad clinical experience in neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's Disease (HD), Parkinsonian Syndromes (PD, MSA, CBGD, PSP), Ataxias (SCA, FA), Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, and others.

He is an expert in cognitive neuroscience, stereotaxy, multi-modal brain imaging (quantitative Positron Emission Tomography (PET), high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), and fluid biomarkers. Most recently, he served as Clinical Group Leader for the Myasthenia Gravis (MG) disease portfolio at Argenx [5], where he oversaw strategic clinical and regulatory development for several late-stage development programs, including leading and executing two successful Phase III clinical studies in SeroNegative MG and Ocular MG. Prior to Argenx, he was the Neurology Clinical Lead at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals [6], leading the early clinical development of siRNA therapeutics programs in HD, SOD1-ALS, and other nascent central nervous system (CNS) siRNA programs. Before joining Alnylam, Dr. Herath served as Medical Director at Voyager Therapeutics, where he was clinical lead for their HD program and several CNS AAV gene therapy programs in development.

At Jazz Pharmaceuticals, he managed clinical trial execution of a Phase II Parkinson?s Disease program. He served as a Clinical Consultant to Alchemab, Inc., and other biotech companies, advising on the development of first in human CNS programs. Through this work, Dr. Herath has accumulated experience in clinical development and regulatory engagements with multiple national regulatory agencies across each stage of drug development. Prior to Jazz, Dr. Herath was a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and at University of South Carolina School of Medicine, serving as an academic neurologist, combining patient care with medical research and teaching the next generation of neurologists.

In his clinical capacity, Dr. Herath treated more than 20,000 patients with neurodegenerative diseases in varied phenotypes. Because of this direct patient care, he possesses a deep understanding of disease presentation, progression, and meaningful outcomes. In his clinical career, Dr. Herath also founded and served as Director of several multidisciplinary movement and Parkinson?s Disease and deep brain stimulation clinics, including at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, at the University of South Carolina School Of Medicine and at Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center Round Rock TX among others.

Dr. Herath received his M.D. with honors from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Karolinska Institutet. Early in his career, he served as a civilian combat trauma surgeon at the National Hospital (SJGH) of Sri Lanka, performing surgeries for blast trauma injuries due to landmines and caring for those patients, including with spinal cord injury.