GAITHERSBURG, Md. and ATLANTA, Feb 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Lentigen Corporation, a biotechnology company specializing in the development and manufacture of lentiviral gene delivery technologies, and Expression Therapeutics, a biotechnology company specializing in factor VIII-based therapeutics, today announced a collaborative agreement to co-develop novel cell and protein therapies for Hemophilia A.
Hemophilia A is an inherited blood clotting disorder caused by a mutation in the factor VIII gene resulting in a deficiency of factor VIII protein. Lentigen and Expression Therapeutics will develop two types of treatments for Hemophilia: a novel chimeric factor VIII protein for direct injection and a cell therapy that may permanently correct the disorder.
"Hemophilia A is a serious disease, affecting about one in 10,000 people worldwide," explained Dr. Boro Dropulic, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Lentigen. "The two therapeutic approaches leverage Lentigen's technology in two important areas: protein expression and cell therapy. Factor VIII is a difficult protein to manufacture but Lentigen's protein expression technology will permit the production of a novel human factor VIII protein at levels highly favorable for commercialization. Secondly, Expression Therapeutics' proprietary factor VIII will be used in a novel stem cell therapy for Hemophilia A that aims to restore the clotting capability of patients suffering from this debilitating disease.
"The platform technology developed by Expression Therapeutics will be used to advance the treatment of hemophilia A. By combining our high expression factor VIII technology with Lentigen's protein expression and gene transfer capabilities, we are confident Lentigen is the ideal partner to help bring this technology to the clinic and marketplace," stated Dr. Trent Spencer, President of Expression Therapeutics.
Tim Ravenscroft, Lentigen's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are excited to be working with Expression Therapeutics on factor VIII treatments. The projects are consistent with our strategy of applying Lentigen's technology in diseases of high unmet therapeutic need."
About Lentigen Corporation
Lentigen Corporation is a privately owned biotechnology company focused on the development of lentiviral vector technology for a wide range of therapeutic, vaccine, and research applications in biotechnology and medicine. Lentiviral vectors are the most efficient vehicles for the delivery of genes or gene silencing sequences stably into cells. Lentigen is a highly collaborative company, co-developing Lentiviral vector-based products across a broad spectrum of bench to clinical applications. Collaborations include The National Institutes of Health, PATH, The University of Pennsylvania, Invitrogen, ThermoFisher Scientific and The U.S. Army. For further information, visit www.lentigen.com.
About Expression Therapeutics
Expression Therapeutics, LLC is a privately owned biotechnology company in Atlanta focused on the development of products that will improve the standard of treatment for individuals with hemophilia A. The high-expression factor VIII technology developed by Expression Therapeutics can be used in the development of both protein replacement and cell therapy-based therapeutics. For further information, visit www.expressiontherapeutics.com
CONTACT: Gregory Tiberend, gtiberend@rlcinc.com, Cecelia Heer,
cheer@rlcinc.com, both of Richard Lewis Communications, Inc.,
+1-212-827-0020, both for Lentigen; or Gabriela Denning, +1-678-278-1140,
gdenning@expressiontherapeutics.com, Keith Kerstann,
kwkerstann@expressiontherapeutics.com, both of Expression Therapeutics, LLC
Web site: http://www.lentigen.com/
