Chairman and CEO Flagg Flanagan Among 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at 2021 Builders + Innovators Summit
Salt Lake City, UT – October 18, 2021 – DiscGenics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing regenerative cell-based therapies that alleviate pain and restore function in patients with degenerative diseases of the spine, today announced that Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) recognized DiscGenics Chairman and CEO Flagg Flanagan as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2021 at its Builders + Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.
Goldman Sachs selected Mr. Flanagan as one of 100 entrepreneurs from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event.
Mr. Flanagan has over 30 years of experience in the medical device field as an entrepreneur, executive and advisor. He has led DiscGenics since its founding in 2007 and has overseen its evolution from pre-clinical to clinical phase with its first product candidate, IDCT (rebonuputemcel), an injectable disc cell therapy, now in clinical trials in the U.S. and Japan for degenerative disc disease (DDD).
“I am honored to receive this recognition from Goldman Sachs and to be among such an innovative group of entrepreneurs,” said Mr. Flanagan. “I am extremely proud of our team at DiscGenics and remain incredibly excited about the opportunity before us to potentially help millions of patients with debilitating back pain.”
Prior to DiscGenics, Mr. Flanagan founded Flanagan Instruments, which he built over 24 years into a leading neurosurgical device distribution business before selling it to Itochu International in 2005. Mr. Flanagan is currently on the boards of TrueDigital Systems, Peleton Medical, Triad Life Sciences, Steribite, and the Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation. He has also served on the boards of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, as well as TrueVision Systems and Image Stream Medical, which were acquired by Alcon and Olympus, respectively.
“Innovation doesn’t happen just anywhere; it thrives where there’s a wide range of thoughts and perspectives,” said David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO of Goldman Sachs. “One of our great strengths is our ability to bring together people from different walks of life and to spark conversations today that will lead to breakthroughs tomorrow. The leaders we’ve chosen to highlight at our Builders + Innovators Summit are truly remarkable, and we are pleased to recognize Flagg Flanagan as one of this year’s most intriguing entrepreneurs.”
In addition to honoring 100 entrepreneurs, the summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.
About DiscGenics
DiscGenics is a privately held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing regenerative cell-based therapies that alleviate pain and restore function in patients with degenerative diseases of the spine. As the only company in the world to develop an allogeneic cell therapy derived from intervertebral disc cells to treat diseases of the disc, DiscGenics believes it has a unique opportunity to harness the restorative potential of the human body to heal millions of patients suffering from the debilitating effects of back pain. DiscGenics’ first product candidate, IDCT, is a homologous, allogeneic, injectable cell therapy that utilizes biomedically engineered progenitor cells derived from intervertebral disc tissue, known as Discogenic Cells, to offer a non-surgical, potentially regenerative solution for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate degenerative disc disease. For more information, visit discgenics.com.