ViaCyte – a San Diego biotech working on stem cell-derived therapies for diabetes – added two members to its board: Paul Hastings and Ian Smith.
Hastings is the CEO of Nkarta Therapeutics, with more 35 years of leadership experience in biotech. Smith was most recently the chief operating officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Last year ViaCyte raised $80 million in a series D round.
The company has endeavored to make cells generating insulin that won’t be exterminated by the immune system, a long sought-after dream with ViaCyte at the forefront, the San Diego Business Journal covered in a profile of the company last March.