Cambrian Bio Launches Telos Biotech to Enable More Robust Cell Therapies

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Jun 27, 2023, 09:01 ET

The New York based Biotech Company aims to improve cell fitness of CAR-T cells for improved performance and function

NEW YORK, June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambrian Bio, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on treating and preventing chronic diseases of aging, today announced the launch of its new pipeline company, Telos Biotech. The organization will develop Telovance ™, a novel recombinant protein delivered intracellularly during the ex-vivo manufacturing of CAR-T cells.

Rapid telomere shortening naturally occurs during the ex-vivo cell expansion portion of cell therapies, a medical procedure in which an organ, cells, or tissue are taken from a living body for a treatment or procedure, and then returned to the living body. During this process, critically shortened telomeres have emerged as a key barrier to successful CAR-T cell immunotherapy. Ultimately, the cells are unable to fully eliminate malignancy and provide durable and persistent protection against recurrent disease. By safely lengthening telomeres during the ex-vivo manufacturing process, Telos can rewind the cellular biological clock and unlock the potential of cell immunotherapy. With these findings, Telos has engineered Telovance ™, a recombinant protein that can be easily incorporated into the cell therapy manufacturing process. Telos has a patent portfolio directed to this technology.

"Cell therapies have delivered cures to thousands of cancer patients but face major manufacturing challenges as expanding exhausted cells from older patients can prevent people from benefitting from life-saving medicines," said James Peyer, PhD, CEO of Cambrian Bio. "We're so excited to work with the team at UT Southwestern Medical Center to discover a safe way to extend telomeres without increasing cancer risk, meaning that all types of cell therapies may one day be made available to any patient, no matter their age or previous lines of therapy."

Telos Biotech was founded in 2020 based on the work of Drs. Jerry Shay, Professor of Cell Biology, Enzo Tedone, Senior Research Scientist, and Mohammad Sayed, Senior Research Scientist, all at UT Southwestern. The company builds on over three decades of telomere biology research by the Shay Laboratory. Telos has licensed the invention from UTSW.

"It's been over 20 years since the first primary human cells were made to live longer through telomere maintenance. The limitations were to ensure this did not lead cells one step closer to cancer," said Mohammad Sayed, Scientific Founder, Telos. "At Telos, we believe that we have overcome those limits and are now able to safely maintain and lengthen telomeres to create a more robust and fit cell."

Telos has engaged cell therapy partners looking for functional benefits with their cells, to improve outcomes for patients. Telovance ™ is an ancillary reagent that can be employed via our simple and easy delivery platform, a variety of manufacturing processes. To learn more please visit: www.telosbio.com.

About Telos Biotech
At Telos, our mission is to overcome cell aging and replicative lifespan limits caused by critically short telomeres. We aim to improve state-of-the-art cell and gene therapies by generating more biologically fit cells. We are developing a safe and state-of-the-art platform to overcome the manufacturing bottlenecks of cell therapies for optimal treatment outcomes. Telos empowers innovative cell therapy companies to deliver on their promise: to cure the most severe, treatment-resistant cancers and bring these therapies to the patients that need them most.

About Cambrian Bio
Cambrian Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on treating and preventing chronic diseases of aging. Cambrian Bio is building therapeutics that increase healthspan - the period of life spent in good health. As a Distributed Development Company, Cambrian advances multiple scientific breakthroughs, and through this multi-asset approach it attracts top caliber R&D experts as well as experienced business leaders that many single early-stage biotech's are unable to access. Cambrian Bio's approach is to develop interventions that treat specific diseases first, then deploy them as preventative medicines to improve the overall quality of life during aging. To date, Cambrian has more than a dozen novel therapeutics in its pipeline. For more information, please visit https://www.cambrianbio.com/ or follow us on Twitter @CambrianBio and LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Cambrian Biopharma