StemCell Therapy

This week: Vita Therapeutics raises US$31 million in Series B funding to progress cell therapies for neuromuscular diseases to clinic and expand its discovery pipeline, Cellusion and Minaris enter business alliance to manufacture cell therapy for bullous keratopathy and Ray Therapeutics and Forge Biologics expand partnership to include plasmid DNA manufacturing.

Vita Therapeutics (MD, USA) announced it has secured US$31 million in Series B financing to accelerate its lead program VTA-100, for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, to the clinic. The funding will also be utilized to develop Vitas newest program VTA-120 to treat facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and to continue expansion of the companys discovery pipeline. The financing was led by Cambrian Biopharma (NY, USA) and Solve FSHD (Vancouver, Canada).

Douglas Falk, CEO at Vita Therapeutics stated: The support from this strategic group of quality investors further validates Vitas cell therapy platform and our mission to bring transformative therapies that target the root cause of disease to patients with muscle disorders and cancers. This syndicates confidence in our ability to further progress our programs is energizing and we are thrilled to have them as partners. We are making notable progress with our investigational IND-enabling studies for VTA-100 and are on track to reach the clinic with this important therapeutic candidate within 18 months. Additionally, we are excited to further expand our pipeline to include VTA-120 for the treatment of patients with FSHD. Im incredibly proud of our entire team and the steady momentum we continue to have.

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Cellusion Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) and Minaris Regenerative Medicine (NY, USA) announced a letter of intent for the manufacturing of CLS001, Cellusions novel cell therapy treatment for bullous keratopathy. CLS001 utilizes corneal endothelial cell substitute from induced pluripotent stem cells for regeneration of the corneal endothelium. Under the letter of intent, the two companies will together develop the manufacturing process of CLS001 and Minaris will optimize processes to meet FDA requirements.

Shin Hatou, CEO of Cellusion stated: We are very enthusiastic to have the partnership with Minaris, a well-established regenerative medicine partner with over 20 years experiences including the predecessor companies, Progenitor Cell Therapy and Hitachi Chemical, and one of the leading CDMOs in the U.S. since the dawn of the field. Together, we make our best efforts to develop the robust manufacturing process of CLS001 for patients suffering from bullous keratopathy due to the cornea donor shortage all over the world.

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Ray Therapeutics (CA, USA) and Forge Biologics (OH, USA) announced their existing manufacturing partnership will expand to include clinical stage plasmid DNA production to support Ray Therapeutics retinitis pigmentosa gene therapy program, RTx-015. The program currently utilizes Forges platform of manufacturing processes, including its proprietary HEK 293 suspension Ignition Cells and pEMBR adenovirus helper plasmid. To further aid the RTx-015 program, Forge will now also provide plasmid manufacturing services, as well as adeno-associated viral vector process development, scale-up engineering, and cGMP manufacturing services.

Paul Bresge, CEO of Ray Therapeutics stated: By adding clinical grade plasmid production to their existing suite of AAV manufacturing capabilities, Forge is easing the scope of production and accelerating the development of our lead therapeutic. Offering everything we need under one roof integrates our entire process so that we can focus on our mission to restore vision in patients losing their sight as fast as possible.

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Cell therapy weekly: Ray Therapeutics and Forge Biologics expand partnership - RegMedNet

This entry was posted on October 15, 2022 at 1:45 am and is filed under Regenerative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |