David Lucchino

Last updated
David L. Lucchino
David Lucchino 2020 Cropped.jpg
Born (1969-02-16) February 16, 1969 (age 54)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Alma mater Denison University
Syracuse University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Years active1991 to present
TitleCo-founder, president and CEO, Frequency Therapeutics [1]
Board member ofMassachusetts Biotechnology Council
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
ParentFrank J. Lucchino

David L. Lucchino is co-founder and chief executive officer of Frequency Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in Lexington, MA. [2] [3]

Contents

Personal

A Pittsburgh native, Lucchino graduated in 1987 from Central Catholic High School. [4] He is the son of Judge Frank Lucchino and is the nephew of former Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino. [5] [6]

Lucchino obtained an MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. [7] Lucchino also holds a Master of Science degree from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Denison University. [8]

Career

David began in the life sciences in 2000 as a co-founder at LaunchCyte, a biotechnology investment entity backed by the University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. [9] LaunchCyte has founded and backed numerous companies. These include a portfolio firm that partnered with Biogen to develop a clinical-stage candidate for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a contract research organization, Reaction Biology, that was sold in 2022 to a private equity firm. [10] [11]

In 2006, while earning his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Lucchino joined a team led by Professor Robert S. Langer to create implant surface technology that prevents blood clotting and infection. Based on that work, Lucchino co-founded, along with Langer, Semprus BioSciences. [12] Lucchino secured $28.5 million in venture capital financing and $5.4 million in federal funding to advance the technology and the company. [13] The team ultimately gained FDA marketing and European CE marketing clearance for the medical device. [14] Teleflex (NYSE: TFX) acquired Semprus in 2012. [15]

Lucchino also worked at the Boston-based venture capital firm Polaris Partners, where he focused on healthcare investing. [16]

In 2013 Lucchino co-founded Frequency Therapeutics, first serving as chair and subsequently taking on the president and CEO roles alongside co-founders Langer and biomedical engineer Jeffrey Karp from Harvard Medical School. [17] Frequency Therapeutics is a regenerative medicine company focused on developing therapeutics to activate a person's innate potential to restore function within the body. The company's initial focus was on cochlear restoration. [18] Lucchino took Frequency public in October of 2019. The company is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FREQ. [19]

Today, Frequency's lead program is for remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) with a focus on developing a therapeutic that activates oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the central nervous system to generate new oligodendrocytes and regenerate myelin, potentially repairing damage caused by MS. [20]

Activities

From 2018 to 2020, Lucchino was chair of MassBio, a 1500-member biotechnology trade association based in Cambridge, MA. During his term, Lucchino led the founding of "Project Onramp", a program that provides internships in life science companies for students from underserved communities. [21] The program has served hundreds of students and has expanded to Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, and New York City. [22]

Former Governor Charlie Baker appointed Lucchino to the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council; Lucchino is also a member of the College of Fellows for the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. [23] [24] Lucchino is on the boards of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and was part of a NOLS expedition that summited Denali. [25] [26]

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