Feldan Therapeutics and Green Cross LabCell Announce Start of Joint collaboration

Combined Feldan Shuttle and Green Cross LabCell NK cell technologies will be used to develop hyperactive NK cell immunotherapies

QUEBEC, Jan. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Green Cross LabCell, involved in development of next generation biologics, and Feldan Therapeutics, focused on intracellular delivery of proteins, today announced a joint research collaboration to develop low immunogenicity, high-performance natural killer (NK) anticancer treatment.

The project, which is part of the Canada-South Korea Science, Technology and Innovation Projects sponsored by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT), aims at facilitating R&D collaboration between Canadian and South Korean innovators.  

Green Cross LabCell has developed the technology and expertise for the mass production of human NK cells by successfully conducting a first-in-human clinical trial using healthy donor-derived allogeneic NK cells and by developing CAR-NKs to enhance anti-tumor specificity and efficacy. The Feldan Shuttle technology is an innovative peptide-based delivery system that enables highly efficient transduction of foreign proteins into cells. Feldan Therapeutics can use its platform to deliver CRISPR nucleases and edit the genome of human NK cells. The collaboration combines both breakthrough technologies to develop next generations of specific and hyperactive off-the-shelf NK cells for allogeneic immuno-oncology therapies.

"NK cell-based immunotherapy has great potential for cancer treatment, but with this project we will bring NK cell efficiency to another level by creating a unique off-the-shelf product showing higher specificity and persistence for a prolonged effect in patient," said François-Thomas Michaud, CEO of Feldan Therapeutics. 

Feldan Therapeutics and Green Cross LabCell started working together in 2016 to develop the basic research structure of this new NK-cell based immunotherapy project.

About Feldan Therapeutics:

Feldan Therapeutic is a Canadian company dedicated to develop therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine based on the Feldan Shuttle platform, a breakthrough peptide-based delivery system allowing introduction of foreign proteins inside cells. The Feldan Shuttle overcomes delivery obstacles in therapeutic context by providing a safe and highly efficient approach that alleviates manipulation complexity and that is associated with low regulatory burden. The Shuttle platform has been successfully used to transfer active nucleases and transcription factors inside several types of cells. Moreover, preliminary results in rodents suggest that the Shuttle has a promising potential for in vivo applications. Work is currently ongoing to further develop the Shuttle technology by promoting internalization of antibodies (or antibody-like domains) in order to modulate specific cellular pathways. In addition, Feldan has an in-house therapeutic pipeline centered on the generation of hyperactive NK cells for oncology applications.

More information is available at www.feldan.com

About Green Cross LabCell:

Green Cross LabCell (GCLC) is a cell therapy-specialized company focusing on NK cell and stem cell therapeutics. GCLC is a subsidiary of Green Cross Holdings, Inc, whose subsidiaries are engaged in human vaccines, antibody therapeutics, CTL-based adoptive immunotherapy and clinical laboratory business. GCLC was founded in June 2011 by a spin-off from Green Cross Labs and has licensed NK cell-based immunotherapy platform from Mogam Biotechnology Institute.

Recently, the GCLC's advanced NK cell-based platform has been translated to a manufacturing facility completely GMP compliant with the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which has successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial in 2012 in Korea. Ex vivo-expanded allogeneic highly activated NK cells (MG4101) are currently on the way of Phase II trial for patients with HCC in Korea. GCLC is committed to pioneering NK cell-based next generation adoptive cellular immunotherapy. GCLC is also concentrating its efforts on research and development of stem cell therapy to treat incurable inflammatory diseases.

More information is available at www.gclabcell.com

SOURCE Feldan Therapeutics