Cynata Executes MoU for Commercial Evaluation With Celularity
- MoU signed with Celularity, Inc. for the evaluation of and identification of commercial opportunities for the CymerusTM platform and Celularity’s leading cell therapy assets
- Follows encouraging early clinical data in Cynata’s Phase 1 trial of CYP-001 in graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), partnered with Japanese corporation Fujifilm
- Celularity, Inc. is a leading US biotechnology company that is productizing cells taken from the postpartum placenta to treat serious and life-threatening diseases with strategic contributions from NASDAQ companies such as Celgene Corporation and United Therapeutics
- Unique opportunity to expand Cynata’s target disease areas further into a broad range of degenerative and immunological diseases
- Vision for Celularity to benefit from Cynata’s proprietary Cymerus production technology
- Considerable commercial upside with regenerative medicine market expected to grow to over $53.7 billion by 20211
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Australian stem cell and regenerative medicine company, Cynata Therapeutics (ASX:CYP), is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Celularity, for the commercial evaluation of Cynata’s CymerusTM production technology for use with Celularity’s therapeutic stem cell technologies.
Celularity, Inc, is a leading US biotechnology company that uses its proprietary technology to harness cells from the postpartum placenta to address serious and life-threatening diseases, with strategic assets contributed from Celgene Corporation, Sorrento Therapeutics, United Therapeutics and Human Longevity, Inc.
Under the MoU, Cynata and Celularity have agreed to assess how Cynata’s technology can enhance Celularity’s ability to produce stem cells in large quantities. Cynata’s proprietary Cymerus platform will be evaluated in conjunction with Celularity’s cell therapy assets and the successful evaluation could lead to the development of new products and cell therapies in the regenerative medicine field. This MoU follows encouraging early clinical data in Cynata’s Phase 1 clinical trial of CYP-001 in acute steroid resistant GvHD, as announced to the ASX on 22 January 2018 and as partnered with Japanese corporation Fujifilm.
Celularity’s portfolio of innovative assets, developed from human placenta, includes cellular therapies to treat a broad range of degenerative and immunological diseases and cancer. Celularity’s immediate portfolio targets many debilitating human diseases, including acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, Crohn’s disease, diabetic peripheral neuropathy and diabetic foot ulcer, each affecting significant patient populations and representing multimillion dollar markets. Its portfolio also incorporates FDA-cleared biomaterial platforms that enable functional restoration of damaged and diseased tissues and organs.
Cynata’s unique Cymerus platform provides the ability to produce mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) at scale, making it the ideal solution to solve the inherent scalability challenge with stem cell therapies. Furthermore, the platform is agnostic, giving it broad therapeutic application across a range of diseases.
Celularity, Inc. was created through a deliberate combination of synergistic cellular medicine assets of leading cellular and genomic technology companies – Celgene Cellular Therapeutics (CCT), United Therapeutics, Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., and Human Longevity, Inc. With these consolidated assets, Celularity combines cellular therapeutics, regenerative medicine technology and a proven placental biosourcing infrastructure. At the core is an effective platform to discover, innovate and deliver therapeutic products and services for treating life threatening diseases and for providing future disruptive advances uniquely suited to operate in the emerging precision medicine environment.
Celularity’s placental-based technology was pioneered by Dr. Robert Hariri, who discovered placental pluripotent stem cells and invented the first placental amniotic membrane product for wound care more than 15 years ago and has since expanded the use of placental cells to numerous other indications and commercial products. In addition to Dr. Hariri, who is Celularity’s founder, CEO and Chairman, Celularity’s leadership team has significant expertise and decades of experience working within the biotechnology sector. Vice-Chairman Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Founder and Executive Chairman of XPRIZE and Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that studies exponentially growing technologies.
Dr. Ross Macdonald, CEO, Cynata Therapeutics commented: “Celularity’s US-focused team is the perfect partner to explore our unique Cymerus technology. We continue to seek new commercial opportunities for our Cymerus platform and this agreement builds on our existing strategic partnership with Fujifilm and represents a unique opportunity to expand our disease target areas into a number of significant markets, including the US.”
Dr. Robert Hariri, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Celularity, Inc. commented: “The value in the Cymerus platform is its unique ability to produce therapeutic grade mesenchymal stem cells at scale. Our stem cell therapies would immensely benefit from mass production and it is for this reason we have chosen to enter into a MoU with Cynata. A cooperation between our two companies has the potential to lead to any number of new commercial opportunities and I look forward to working alongside Cynata to explore the opportunities available to us.”
| CONTACTS: | Dr Ross Macdonald, CEO, Cynata Therapeutics: Tel: +61 (0)412 119343; email ross.macdonald@cynata.com |
| Daniel Paproth, Australia Media Contact, +61 (0)421 858 982, daniel.paproth@mcpartners.com.au | |
| Laura Bagby, U.S. Media Contact, 312-448-8098, lbagby@6degreespr.com | |
| Dr. Robert Hariri, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Celularity, Inc. | |
About Cynata Therapeutics (ASX:CYP)
Cynata Therapeutics Limited (ASX:CYP) is an Australian clinical stage stem cell and regenerative medicine company that is developing a therapeutic stem cell platform technology, Cymerus™, originating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a world leader in stem cell research. The proprietary Cymerus™ technology addresses a critical shortcoming in existing methods of production of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for therapeutic use, which is the ability to achieve economic manufacture at commercial scale. Cymerus™ utilises induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to produce a particular type of MSC precursor, called a mesenchymoangioblast (MCA). The Cymerus™ platform provides a source of MSCs that is independent of donor limitations and provides an “off-the-shelf” stem cell platform for therapeutic product use, with a pharmaceutical product business model and economies of scale. This has the potential to create a new standard in the emergent arena of stem cell therapeutics and provides both a unique differentiator and an important competitive position.
About Celularity, Inc.
Celularity, Inc. is a leading US cell and tissue regenerative therapeutics company that has leading-edge technology and an associated intellectual property portfolio which uniquely positions Celularity to harness the power of the placenta and operate along the entire value chain. Celularity’s intellectual property portfolio includes more than 800 granted patents worldwide, as well as pre-clinical and clinical assets including CAR constructs for allogeneic CAR-T/NK products, and commercial stage biosourcing and functional regeneration businesses. Celularity’s investors include Celgene Corporation, Sorrento Therapeutics, United Therapeutics, and Human Longevity, Inc. For more information, please visit www.celularity.com. Follow Celularity on Social Media: @Celularity.
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