MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
ATUM and Codiak | January 25, 2023
On January 24, 2023, ATUM, a global leader in bioengineering solutions, announced that it has signed a comprehensive licensing agreement with Codiak BioSciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for the Leap-In Transposase® technology.
ATUM will grant Codiak access to its Leap-In Transposase® technology in order to create mammalian cells expressing exosomes engineered to deliver therapeutic payloads under the conditions of the agreement. The Leap-In technology is a comprehensive solution that integrates patented re-coding algorithms, unique genetic vector elements, and a transposon-based mechanism for efficiently inserting genetically stable elements into the genome.
"Through years of rigorous research and clinical validation we have created a platform for engineering and manufacturing therapeutic exosomes with various payloads on the surface or inside the lumen. We believe ATUM's transposase technology has the potential to effectively synergize with Codiak's engEx® Platform to further enhance loading these vesicles, making them more potent and reducing cost of goods," Commented Scott Estes, Ph.D., VP of Cell Line Development at Codiak.
(Source – Business Wire)
"Exosomes are bio vesicles that have the potential to fundamentally change drug delivery. We are proud and excited to license the Leap-In Transposase® technology to Codiak for the engineering of cell lines that enables rapid and robust production of exosomes," said Claes Gustafsson, Ph.D., Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder at ATUM.
(Source – Business Wire)
About Codiak
Founded in 2015, Codiak is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing exosome-based treatments, a new class of medications with the potential to change the treatment of a variety of diseases with high unmet medical needs. It created a proprietary engEx Platform that uses exosome biology as natural intercellular transfer mechanisms to design, construct, and manufacture innovative exosome therapeutic candidates. By utilizing its engEx Platform, it has produced a rich pipeline of engineered exosomes for neuro-oncology, oncology, neurology, neuromuscular, and infectious diseases.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL
Celularity | January 17, 2023
Celularity Inc., a biotechnology firm based in the United States that develops placental-derived allogenic cell treatments and biomaterials, and CH Trading Group LLC, an international import, export, and trading corporation, have agreed to an exclusive territorial distribution agreement.
CH Trading Group will serve as the exclusive territorial distributor for halal-certified products previously announced by Celularity in over 100 countries. The product distribution agreement for halal-certified products by Celularity provides a five-year minimum accumulated purchase commitment of US $225 million.
CEO of CH Trading Group, Sayed Zayan, said, “Based on market demand for Celularity’s commercial biomaterial products, we believe there is a billion-dollar commercial opportunity across the Middle East and North Africa Islamic markets.” He also added, “We are excited to be in a position to expand access to these important medicines and wellness products to more people across the region through our exclusive territories distributor agreement with Celularity.”
(Source – Business Wire)
“According to Emergent Research's most recent analysis, the global regenerative medicine market was valued at $9.80 billion in 2021 and is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 15.9%, reaching $37.10 billion in 2030.”
Under the agreement, CH Trading Group will distribute products to more than 100 countries that are members of or affiliated with the following intergovernmental organizations (‘Islamic Markets’)
The Gulf Cooperation Council: Consists of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation: It spans four continents and includes 57 member nations
The African Union: Includes 55 member countries
Robert J. Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., Celularity’s CEO, Chairman and Founder, said, “Our partnership with the CH Group represents another critical milestone towards bringing our innovative halal-certified—under globally recognized Circle H International Inc. standards – regenerative biomaterial products to treat degenerative disease across Islamic Markets.”
(Source – Business Wire)
About Celularity
Headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., Celularity is a clinical-stage biotechnology firm paving the way for the future of cellular medicine by offering off-the-shelf allogeneic placenta-derived cellular therapeutics with unmatched scale, quality, and affordability. With its novel approach to cell therapy, the company can unlock the unique therapeutic potential of the postpartum placenta. In addition, through the placenta, nature’s immunotherapy engine, the firm is driving the next generation of cellular medicine using placenta-derived T cells, NK cells, and pluripotent stem cells to address unmet and underserved clinical needs in cancer, infectious, and degenerative diseases.
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CELL AND GENE THERAPY, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Sana Biotechnology | January 30, 2023
Sana Biotechnology, Inc., a firm focused on producing and delivering engineered cells as medicines, recently announced that the FDA has approved the company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin a first-in-human trial of SC291 in patients with different types of B-cell malignancies.
SC291 is an allogeneic CAR T cell therapy that targets CD19. It is developed by Sana using its hypoimmune platform. The hypoimmune platform's objective is to overcome the allogeneic cells' immunologic rejection, which, if valid for SC291, could lead to prolonged CAR T cell persistence and increased rates of durable complete responses in patients with B-cell lymphomas or leukemias.
The hypoimmune platform includes disruption of the major histocompatibility (MHC) class I and class II expression to conceal cells from the adaptive immune system, which consists of antibody and T cell responses and overexpression of CD47 to inhibit activation of the innate immune cell system, especially macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells. The company has provided evidence from numerous preclinical models demonstrating the potential of this platform to cloak cells from immune detection and the therapeutic potential of SC291 for patients with B-cell malignancies.
About Sana Biotechnology
Founded in 2018, Sana Biotechnology is a firm focused on utilizing engineered cells as medicines for patients. It is constructing differentiated capabilities across the spectrum of cell and gene therapy. The company is motivated by three goals as it seeks solutions for people with poor outcomes or diseases that are currently incurable. The first is the ability to repair and control the genes in any cell in the body. It is developing innovative delivery technologies in order to deliver any payload to any cell in a precise, predictable, and repeatable manner, paving the way for next-generation in vivo gene therapy. Next comes the ability to develop pluripotent stem cells ex vivo into immune-cloaked functional cells, to replace any missing or damaged cells in the body. Finally, it believes that it can also enable broader access to its therapies by focusing on scalable manufacturing solutions, the manufacturing costs, and aligning with key stakeholders.
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