Curocell, a CAR-T therapy company, said Tuesday that it has recruited Lee Seung-won as managing director to lead the domestic commercialization of its next-generation CAR-T treatment CRC01 (anbalcabtagene autoleucel, or Anbal-cel in the trademarked name).

Lee is a brand marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in hematologic cancers and CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T) therapeutics.

According to Curocell, Lee served as product manager at Novartis Korea for the hematologic cancer drug Jakavi (ruxolitinib), cell therapy network manager for the Cell & Gene team, and head of sales force training, contributing to the domestic launch and marketing of cardiovascular, diabetes, and heart failure products.

Lee started his career as a general hospital sales representative at Hanmi Pharmaceutical. He graduated from Kyungpook National University with a bachelor's degree in economics and a double major in business administration.

Curocell aims to expedite Anbal-cel's approval and launch it through a customized review of the Advanced Biopharmaceutical Expedited Processing System in the Global Innovative Product Test (GIFT) and the parallel approval, evaluation, and negotiation pilot project.

“The appointment of Lee Seung-won is expected to accelerate the commercialization of Anbal-cel further,” a Curocell official said. “He will play a significant role in laying the foundation for global expansion beyond the domestic market.”