Carmine Therapeutics appoints Don Haut as CEO

Carmine Therapeutics, Inc., an emerging leader in gene therapy, announced that Don Haut, PhD has been appointed as its Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors.

Founded and incubated by EVX Ventures, Carmine is developing next-generation, non-viral gene therapies for a broad spectrum of diseases. Based on a proprietary Red Cell Extracellular Vesicle Gene Therapy technology, the REGENT™ technology can overcome the limitations of today's viral-based gene therapies such as immunogenicity, small payload capacity, and manufacturing challenges. As such, Carmine believes its gene therapies have the potential for repeat dosing, large and multiple payload capacity, and improved manufacturing economics.

"We are thrilled to welcome Don to the Carmine team. Carmine has made tremendous progress in advancing the research and development of our platforms, and is now moving an extensive pipeline into the clinic. Don's deep industry expertise and vast experience across multiple biotech companies will accelerate Carmine's growth and transformation as it continues to advance a new generation of gene therapies," said XQ Lin, Founder/Chairman of Carmine, and Chairman/Managing Director of EVX Ventures.

Dr. Haut brings more than two decades of healthcare experience to Carmine – most recently as Chief Business Officer of AskBio where he was instrumental in AskBio's recent US$4 billion acquisition by Bayer AG.  He was previously CBO of Sherlock Biosciences, and Histogenics, Inc.  Prior to that, he was Vice President for New Business Ventures and Vice President for US Sales Operations at The Medicines Company, Inc. In addition, he held senior leadership roles at Smith and Nephew, Plc., and 3M Company. He started his career at Monsanto, and McKinsey & Company. Dr. Haut currently serves on the Board of Directors at Xiros, Ltd., and the Partnering Advisory Board of Antibe Therapeutics. He earned an MBA the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, and Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and his undergraduate degree at the College of Wooster.

"The REGENT™ technology platform has the potential to be truly transformational in multiple therapeutic areas and indications. The Founders have done a remarkable job building the company to where it is today, and I am thrilled to be joining such a thoughtful and talented group," said Dr. Haut.

About Carmine

Carmine Therapeutics was founded in 2019 by EVX Ventures, Professor Harvey Lodish (Whitehead, MIT) and Singaporean Professors Minh Le and Jiahai Shi. Professor Lodish, who was a founding member of several successful biotech companies that include Genzyme, Arris (now Axys) Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Rubius Therapeutics, is also Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Carmine. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA with a research presence in Singapore, Carmine is pioneering next generation gene therapy based on red blood cell extracellular vesicles.

To date, Carmine has raised close to US$20M in financing. Carmine has inked a US$900M collaboration deal with Takeda Pharmaceuticals and was named FierceBiotech's "Fierce 15 of 2020". 

About EVX Ventures (formerly Esco Ventures X)

EVX Ventures, based in Cambridge, MA and Singapore, builds, incubates and invests in biotech companies, originating from platform technologies sourced globally.