MaxCyte, Inc. MaxCyte & NIH enter CRADA for Sickle Cell Disease
June 11 2018 - 1:00AM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMMXCT
MaxCyte, Inc.
11 June 2018
MaxCyte, Inc.
("MaxCyte" or the "Company")
MaxCyte and U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute Enter Cooperative Research &
Development Agreement for Sickle Cell Disease
- Under this agreement, MaxCyte's second signed with a U.S. NIH
institute in the past year, the Company and the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute will explore development of new therapies
for sickle cell disease using MaxCyte's gene-correction
platform
Gaithersburg, Maryland - 11 June 2018 - MaxCyte, Inc. (LSE:
MXCT, MXCR) today announces it has entered into a Cooperative
Research and Development Agreement ("CRADA") with the U.S. National
Institutes of Health ("NIH"). Under this new agreement, MaxCyte and
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ("NHLBI"), part of
the NIH, will aim to develop treatments for individuals with sickle
cell disease ("SCD") using next-generation CRISPR/Cas9-based
single-nucleotide correction enabled by MaxCyte's cell
engineeringplatform.
In the search for alternative therapies for SCD, NHLBI will
conduct pre-clinical research evaluating the effectiveness and
safety of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing on models of SCD by "correcting"
the faulty hemoglobin gene that causes the disease, and addressing
DNA mutations in non-corrected cells that contribute to the
disease. As part of the agreement, MaxCyte will supply mRNA
molecules and focus on leveraging its Flow Electroporation(R)
Technology to develop reliable and effective processes to produce
clinically meaningful correction of mutated gene sequences.
This second CRADA with the NIH is further to the announcement on
6 June 2017, where MaxCyte announced a CRADA with NIH's National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop treatments
for X-linked chronic granulomatous disease.
Doug Doerfler, President & CEO of MaxCyte, said: "We are
delighted to continue our collaboration with NHLBI, one of the
world's leading disease institutes, which is leveraging MaxCyte's
expertise in developing a new generation of potential treatments
for SCD. We believe that this work will further validate our
platform for developing gene-editing therapies for a broad range of
diseases while enabling rapid, development and commercial
manufacturing of new therapies for patients where there is an
extremely high unmet medical need."
MaxCyte received a commercialization grant in 2015 and 2017 from
the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund to pursue its collaboration
with the NHLBI to develop pre-clinical processes to demonstrate
proof-of-biology with MaxCyte's gene correction platform.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) encompasses a group of inherited red
blood cell disorders characterized by abnormal hemoglobin (called
hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin). Approximately 300,000 infants
are born with SCD annually worldwide and this number is expected to
increase rapidly.[i] In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimate that SCD affects approximately
100,000 Americans, occurring in approximately one in 365
African-American births and one in every 16,300 Hispanic-American
births.[ii] Currently, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
(HSCT) is the only cure for SCD, but many people with SCD are
either too old for transplant or do not have a relative with
sufficient genetic match to act as a donor.
CRADA # HL-CTCR-18-001
About MaxCyte
MaxCyte is a global cell-based medicines and life sciences
company applying its patented cell engineering technology to help
patients with high unmet medical needs in a broad range of
conditions. MaxCyte is developing novel CARMA therapies for its own
pipeline. CARMA is MaxCyte's mRNA-based proprietary platform for
autologous cell therapy. In addition, through its core business,
the Company leverages its Flow Electroporation Technology to enable
its partners across the biopharmaceutical industry to advance the
development of innovative medicines, particularly in cell therapy,
including gene editing and immuno-oncology. The Company has placed
its cutting-edge flow electroporation instruments worldwide,
including with nine of the top ten global biopharmaceutical
companies, and has more than 50 partnered programme licenses in
cell therapy including more than 20 licensed for clinical use. With
its robust delivery technology, MaxCyte helps its partners to
unlock the full potential of their products.
For more information, visit www.maxcyte.com
MAXCYTE CONTACTS:
MaxCyte Inc.
Doug Doerfler, Chief Executive Officer
Ron Holtz, Chief Financial Officer +1 301 944 1660
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Panmure Gordon
Freddy Crossley
James Stearns
Ryan McCarthy +44 (0)20 7886 2500
Financial PR Adviser
Consilium Strategic Communications +44 (0)203 709 5700
Mary-Jane Elliott maxcyte@consilium-comms.com
Chris Welsh
Suki Virji
[i] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1510865
[ii] https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/data.html
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END
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