Cellect Announces a Major Milestone for Enabling Stem Cells Production
TEL AVIV, Israel, April 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. (Nasdaq: APOP), a developer of a novel stem cell enabling technology, announced that it has successfully completed the proof of concept testing of its first in type new product prototype, ApoTainer™ using Cellect's FasL-coated magnetic beads for maximizing efficacy and scalability of stem cell based products' manufacturing. The ApoTainer™ is designed to replace highly complex and expensive procedures currently used by laboratories (e.g. Bone marrow transplantations), with a significantly more effective process at a fraction of the time and cost.
The Company believes the ApoTainer™ represents a breakthrough in achieving commercial grade scalability with a solution suitable for a wide range of users from large pharma companies interested in cost effective stem cell production through hospitals and clinics to small research laboratories.
Pre-clinical proof of concept testing of Cellect's proprietary ApoTainer™ has shown that the use of FasL-coated magnetic beads significantly increases the active surface allowing a dramatic increase of interactions between the selecting agent and the cells. The testing showed that the prototype increases specific elimination of certain (but not all) of the non-stem cells while full preservation of the number and function of the stem and progenitor cells.
Utilizing the ApoTainer™, Cellect expects blood stem cell donation to be transplantable within less than 6 hours from donation through a simple process performed at the hospital bedside instead of undergoing a lengthy laboratory procedure in a highly specialized setting. The standard medical procedure for reaching enriched stem cells currently costs tens of thousands of dollars and produces significant adverse effects.
ApoTainer™-based blood stem cell transplantation is being designed to result in improved recovery of the patient's immune system with significant reduction of safety concerns in contrast to the significant morbidity or even death caused by the standard medical procedure. Reducing the procedure related adverse effects is anticipated to cause a significant increase in the number of bone marrow transplantations - the only stem cell based medical procedure fully accepted by the medical community.
Cellect CTO Dr. Bakimer adds "Cellect has two major programs in Hematopoietic and Mesenchymal stem cells. By moving to spherical beads, we achieved a significant improvement of the number of active molecules per number of cells and that in turn is expected to improve the biological effect of the ApoTainer™.
Stem cells are the building blocks and raw material of 21st century regenerative medicine enabling a world where damaged tissues and organs may be replaced and regenerated rather than fixed with drugs, radiation and surgery. However, up to 50 percent of stem cell transplants from donors (such as in bone marrow transplantation) result in life-threatening immune reaction such as rejection and Graft-versus-Host-Disease (GvHD). Cellect's technology aims at turning stem cell transplantations into an efficient, safe and affordable procedure by reducing the associated severe side effects and simplifying the process.
About Cellect Biotechnology Ltd.
Cellect Biotechnology (NASDAQ: APOP) has developed a breakthrough technology for the selection of stem cells from any given tissue that aims to improve a variety of stem cell-based therapies.
The Company's technology is expected to provide research, hospitals and pharma companies with the tools to rapidly isolate stem cells in quantity and quality allowing stem cell-based treatments and procedures in a wide variety of applications in regenerative medicine. The current clinical trial is aimed at bone marrow transplantations in cancer treatment.