Under the terms of the deal, Curamys obtains non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s platform to help advance its cell fusion technology. In return, MaxCyte will receive platform licensing fees and program-related revenue.
Maryland, US headquartered, MaxCyte, has developed and commercialized its proprietary flow electroporation technology to facilitate complex engineering of a wide variety of cells.
Its ExPERT platform is based on that flow electroporation technology. It is clinically validated for complex and scalable cell engineering and has been designed to support the rapidly expanding cell therapy market, said the firm.
“By delivering high transfection efficiency, seamless scalability and enhanced functionality, the ExPERT platform delivers the high-end performance essential to enabling the next wave of biological and cellular therapeutics,” said Doug Doerfler, CEO of MaxCyte.
The platform, he continued, will support Curamys’ development of its cell-fusion technology for novel cell-based treatments to treat intractable diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Curamys is focused on developing treatments for genetic and degenerative diseases through its specialized cell fusion technology, based on the concept that apoptotic or dying cells can be regenerated by fusing them with healthy normal cells.
Cell fusion technology can function as a form of gene therapy when the normal copies of genes existing in treatment cells are transferred to dying cells, resulting in the development of a treatments for genetic and rare intractable diseases at the cellular level.
“Our goal is to use cell fusion-based technologies to transform the biomedical sciences by helping to identify genetic factors contributing to numerous rare diseases with unknown medical causes,” said Dr Jung Joon Sung, CEO, Curamys. “MaxCyte’s platform will enable us to advance this technology, so we can expand our global reach.”
Expanded Asian footprint
Curamys is the 18th strategic partner that MaxCyte’s has secured. Doerfler told BioPharma-Reporter:
“This year alone, we have been fortunate to announce partnerships with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, LGChem and Intima Bioscience. Our partners develop therapies across a wide variety of diseases. We currently support clinical programs for indications covering genetic diseases, hematological malignancies, infectious diseases, and solid tumors. The collaboration with Curamys expands MaxCyte-enabled programs to the area of rare diseases. Curamys is also our second partner from Asia, outlining MaxCyte’s approach to supporting new therapies for patients around the globe.”