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 the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. 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. 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. Lucchino secured $28.5 million in venture capital financing and $5.4 million in federal funding to advance the technology and the company. The team ultimately gained FDA marketing and European CE marketing clearance for the medical device. Teleflex (NYSE: TFX) acquired Semprus in 2012. Lucchino also worked at the Boston-based venture capital firm Polaris Partners, where he focused on healthcare investing. 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. Frequency Therapeutics was a regenerative medicine company focused on developing therapeutics to activate a person's innate potential to restore function within the body. The company initially focused on cochlear restoration. Lucchino took Frequency public in October 2019. The company was listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FREQ. Frequency merged with Korro Bio on November 3, 2023. == Activities ==