New York, NY (Press Release) – Cytovia Thera­peutics, an emerging bio­pharma­ceu­tical com­pany and the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Re­search in­sti­tute to­day an­nounced the filing of a provisional pat­ent appli­ca­tion with the U.S. Patent & Trade­mark Office (USPTO) for the dif­fer­en­tiation of Natural Killer (NK) cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The NYSCF Re­search In­sti­tute is a pio­neer and acknowledged leader in stem cell tech­nology, having devel­oped the NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array®, the premier automated robotic plat­form for reprogramming skin or blood into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and dif­fer­en­tiating them into dis­ease-relevant cell types.

Cytovia and NYSCF are also col­lab­o­rating on the process de­vel­op­ment of Good Manu­fac­tur­ing Prac­tices (GMP) of iPSC NK and CAR-NK cells with the po­ten­tial to file addi­tional pat­ents on the engi­neer­ing, ex­pan­sion and GMP manu­fac­tur­ing processes of iPSC NK cells to treat can­cer.

Dr. Daniel Teper, CEO of Cytovia commented, “This first pat­ent appli­ca­tion filing on iPSC-NK cells is an im­por­tant mile­stone for Cytovia, positioning us as a pio­neer in this emerging field. The use of iPSC-NK cells con­sti­tutes a trans­formational ap­proach to can­cer treat­ment, enabling the use of pre­ci­sion cell ther­apy for many patients. Cytovia plans to ini­ti­ate first clin­i­cal trials with iPSC NK-cells in 2021. “

Susan L Solomon, Chief Exec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of NYSCF added, “We are delighted by the progress made by the NYSCF and Cytovia team in the dif­fer­en­tiation and ex­pan­sion of NK cells from an iPSC source. These iPSC-NK cells can be ge­net­ic­ally modified to create iPSC-CAR-NK cells. In the com­ing months, the col­lab­o­ration will focus on devel­op­ing a stan­dardized GMP process to sup­port Cytovia’s iPSC-NK and iPSC-CAR NK thera­peutic can­di­dates for can­cer.”

About CAR NK Cell Therapy

Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR) are fusion pro­teins that com­bine an extracellular an­ti­gen rec­og­ni­tion domain with an intracellular co-stimulatory signaling domain. Natural Killer (NK) cells are modified ge­net­ic­ally to allow insertion of a CAR. CAR-NK cell ther­apy has dem­onstrated ini­tial clin­i­cal rel­e­vance without the lim­i­ta­tions of CAR-T, such as Cytokine Release Syndrome, neurotoxicity or Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD). Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) - derived CAR-NKs are nat­u­rally allo­geneic, avail­able off-the-shelf and may be able to be admin­istered on an outpatient basis. Recent inno­va­tive de­vel­op­ments with the iPSC, an inno­va­tive tech­nology, allow large quantities of ho­mo­ge­neous ge­net­ic­ally modified CAR NK cells to be pro­duced from a master cell bank, and thus hold prom­ise to ex­pand access of cell ther­apy for many patients.

About The New York Stem Cell Foundation Re­search In­sti­tute

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Re­search In­sti­tute is an in­de­pen­dent non-profit or­ga­ni­za­tion accelerating cures and better treat­ments for patients through stem cell re­search. The NYSCF global com­munity in­cludes over 190 re­searchers at lead­ing in­sti­tu­tions world­wide, in­clud­ing the NYSCF – Druckenmiller Fellows, the NYSCF – Robertson In­ves­ti­ga­tors, the NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Prize Recipients, and NYSCF Re­search In­sti­tute scientists and engi­neers. The NYSCF Re­search In­sti­tute is an acknowledged world leader in stem cell re­search and in the de­vel­op­ment of pio­neer­ing stem cell tech­nolo­gies, in­clud­ing the NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array®, which is used to create cell lines for laboratories around the globe. In 2019, NYSCF launched the Women’s Re­pro­duc­tive Cancers Initiative, which aims to shift par­a­digms in the way these can­cers are studied and treated, in col­lab­o­ration with lead­ing can­cer experts across the globe. NYSCF focuses on trans­la­tional re­search in an accelerator model de­signed to over­come barriers that slow dis­cov­ery and re­place silos with col­lab­o­ration. For more in­for­ma­tion, visit www.nyscf.org

About Cytovia Thera­peutics, Inc

Cytovia Thera­peutics Inc is an emerging bio­technol­ogy com­pany that aims to ac­cel­er­ate patient access to trans­formational immuno­therapies, addressing sev­er­al of the most chal­leng­ing unmet med­i­cal needs in can­cer and severe acute infectious dis­eases. Cytovia focuses on Natural Killer (NK) cell biology and is leveraging mul­ti­ple ad­vanced pat­ented tech­nolo­gies, in­clud­ing an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) plat­form for CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptors) NK cell ther­apy, next-gener­a­tion pre­ci­sion gene-editing to en­hance targeting of NK cells, and NK engager multi-functional anti­bodies. Our ini­tial prod­uct port­folio focuses on both hema­to­logical malig­nan­cies such as mul­ti­ple myeloma and solid tumors in­clud­ing hepato­cellular carcinoma and glio­blas­toma. The com­pany part­ners with the Uni­ver­sity of California San Francisco (UCSF), the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), the Hebrew Uni­ver­sity of Jerusalem, and CytoImmune Thera­peutics. Learn more at www.cytoviatx.com .

Source: Cytovia Thera­peutics.