A Gene Therapy Company Leading Neural Regeneration and Repair

About Us

NeuExcell is an early stage gene therapy company focusing on neurodegenerative diseases.  We have developed a disruptive neural repair technology that utilizes in vivo astrocyte-to-neuron conversion.

Our vision is to improve the quality of life of millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from neurodegenerative conditions by using the power of gene therapy to restore damaged neural tissue.

In Vivo Regeneration - A Breakthrough in Brain Repair

Despite significant investment in research in the past decades, therapies that can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's disease, effectively treat stroke, or manage the devastating neurodegenerative impacts of rare diseases such as Huntington's disease and ALS remain elusive.  The fundamental problem that has not been adequately addressed is how to recover the millions of lost neurons needed to restore function.

In neurodegenerative or acutely injured brains, neurons die while glial cells, a group of supporting cells surrounding neurons, become reactive and proliferate. Our in vivo transdifferentiation technology takes the advantage of those reactive and proliferative  glial cells and converts them into neurons with high efficiency.

We use AAV gene therapy to deliver specific factors to a targeted site in the brain or spinal cord that can reprogram the reactive glial cells already present in the damaged region to produce functional neurons.  The newly generated neurons integrate into existing brain circuits, leading to functional recovery.

This technology has a broad scope of applications to treat neurodegenerative diseases and neural injuries.

Highly Experienced Management Team

Dr. Lorijn has advised the boards and executive management of several small and mid-sized biotech companies on strategy and financing, and served as Non-Executive Director on the board of several European companies. Previously, Dr. Lorijn was CEO of AMT NV (currently uniQure), which he guided through it’s A-financing round and an IPO on the NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam. The Company became the first to bring a gene therapy to the market in the Western world.

Prior to AMT, Ronald served as Vice President of Amgen Europe for 11 years, responsible for its Clinical Operations, Business Development & Governmental Affairs. Before joining Amgen, Ronald was Chief Medical Officer and Sr. Director of Clinical Operations & Medical Affairs, Europe, for Centocor, after having been employed by the pharmaceutical division of AKZO (Organon), as its head of worldwide Medical Services and Product Surveillance.

Dr. Lorijn graduated from the Radboud University Nijmegen, completed a PhD and MBA and was a certified obstetrician/gynecologist before joining the biotech industry.

Ronald HW Lorijn, MD, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Chen is a Professor at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China where he is leading the effort of building a world class brain repair research center. Prior to Jinan University, Gong was a Willaman Chair Professor and the Head of Charles "Skip" Smith Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Chen pioneered the in situ cell conversion technology for brain and spinal cord repair. This groundbreaking technology can be applied to a wide range of neurological disorders, including stroke, Alzheimer’s , Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and ALS. Gong has published many high-impact papers in the neuroscience field. Gong was honored with the Zenith Fellow Award by the Alzheimer’s Foundation for his breakthrough work. Dr. Chen and his team have filed more than 70 patent applications, 12 of which have been issued.

Dr. Chen received his BS at Fudan University and PhD at Shanghai Institute of Physiology and held Postdoctoral Fellowship positions and Yale University and Stanford University.

Gong Chen, PhD

Founder,
Chief Scientific Officer

Mr. Qin brings over 20 years of leadership experience in finance, M&A, international business, operations improvement, people processes and HR, corporate development and general management.

Prior to joining NeuExcell, Xi was Chief Operating Officer at GENEWIZ, a global leader in genomics services. During his 10-year tenure at GENEWIZ, Xi’s role expanded from Corporate Controller to Chief Financial Officer to General Manager, while he led the business growth from $9M to $120M, expanded the operations from U.S. to China/Europe/Japan with >1,000 team members, and managed its strategic sale to Brooks Automation for $450M in 2018. Before GENEWIZ, Xi had 10 years of progressive experiences in corporate finance and operations at Northwest Airlines and Eli Lilly.

Mr. Qin has an MBA in Healthcare Management from Duke University, an MA in Immunology from Harvard University, and a BS in Biochemistry from Peking University.

Xi Qin

Chief Financial Officer

Dr. White is a proven biopharmaceutical executive with a diverse skill set and broad knowledge base gained by leading high-performing cross-functional teams through a wide range of business strategy, commercial development, portfolio management, and clinical development challenges in start-up, mid-sized, and large companies. Her background is diverse, with experience at the intersection of science and business across many disease and technology areas, and strong proficiency in the areas of rare disease, biologics and genetic medicines.

Beth had a successful career in the biopharmaceutical industry, with 9 years of experience at a biotech start-up company, followed by 20 years at Wyeth and Pfizer where she led new product planning strategy as Assistant Vice President, Commercial Development, for Pfizer’s Rare Disease and Gene Therapy Business. Beth was responsible for developing the strategy and organizational structure to manage the newly-formed Rare Disease Business Unit, now one of five key therapeutic focus areas for Pfizer BioPharma. She helped to build Pfizer’s Rare Disease / Gene Therapy business by facilitating the completion of many successful licensing and acquisition deals, including the acquisition of Bamboo Therapeutics, and by developing and gaining senior management endorsement of an end-to-end, 5-year strategic business plan.

Dr. White received PhD and MS degrees with a concentration in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Rochester, and a BS in Biology from Allegheny College.

Elizabeth White, PhD

Chief Business & Strategy Officer

Before NeuExcell, Ms. Xu was a researcher and lab manager at Penn State University. Prior to Penn State, Jie worked at a startup biotech company, Xenoport Inc., where she was part of the team building the research laboratory as one of the first employees. Jie’s research experience covers molecular biology, immunology, virology, and neurodevelopment.

Ms. Xu received her BS in Biochemistry from Peking University and MS in Cell Biology from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

Jie Xu

Co-Founder,
Head of Discovery

Mr. Tombros’ professional career includes 8 years as President and CEO of Enzon Pharma, where he built Enzon's market capitalization from $44 million to more than $3 billion, making it one of the top 20 biotech firms in the United States at the time. Prior to that, Peter spent over 25 years with Pfizer Inc., where he helped the company to focus on and build the pharmaceutical business in a variety of positions including Vice President of Marketing; Senior Vice President, General Manager; Executive Vice President of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals; and Corporate Vice President for Strategic Planning. Mr. Tombros is currently serving an emeritus role as Professor and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the Eberly College of Sciences BS/MBA Program at the Pennsylvania State University.

Peter has also served on eight different public company boards, including NPS Pharmaceuticals, where he was Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, Cambrex, Inc., where he was Chairman of the Audit Committee, and Dendrite International, Inc. He was also a Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board for Alphapharma, Inc. and Pharmanet Development Group Inc. During his tenure on these boards, Peter chaired many standing board committees and has been involved in a wide variety of board matters including CEO succession, corporate restructuring, financing, regulatory (FDA, SEC) dealings, and corporate governance issues. In 2015, Mr. Tombros was selected as Director of the Year by the Financial Times. Peter was also Chairman of the 7.5-year Pennsylvania State University $2.2B Capital Campaign.

Mr. Tombros received his BS and MS at Penn State and MBA from University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

Peter Tombros

Board Chair

Dr. Yin brings with him over twenty years of leadership experience as a top executive and strategist in the pharmaceutical world. From April 2017 to December 2020, he was Head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, APMA Region (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa), and President of Novartis Group (China). He was a member of the Novartis Pharma Executive Committee. He joined Novartis in 2011 as Chairman of Novartis Group (China) and has been instrumental to the success of Novartis Group and all its divisions (including Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz and Alcon) in China.

Prior to Novartis, Dr. Yin served as President of AstraZeneca China (including Mainland and Hong Kong), and successfully led AstraZeneca China to be the first big pharma to grow into a USD 1 billion business. Before AstraZeneca, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group, focusing on pharmaceutical industry clients in Asia.

Dr. Yin received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Peking University, MBA from Harvard Business School, and PhD in Biological Science from Stanford University.

Xudong Yin, PhD

Board Director