Australian stem cell and regenerative medicine company, Cynata Therapeutics Limited, announced today that the Company has filed a new patent application with IP Australia for oncology-related therapeutic uses of its proprietary Cymerus mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) technology.
Highlights:
• Application filed with IP Australia would expand patent estate to immunotherapy.
• Creates new opportunities in the growing field of immunotherapy and reinforces a position in oncology.
What is Cynata’s Cymerus Technology?
The Cymerus technology is a stem cell manufacturing platform being developed by Cynata Therapeutics Limited, an Australian regenerative medicine company. The Cymerus technology utilizes induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) originating from an adult donor as the starting material for generating mesenchymoangioblasts (MCAs), and subsequently, for differentiating the cells into mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
One of the key inventors of Cynata’s Cymerus technology is Igor Slukvin, M.D., Ph.D., a world-renowned researcher who has released more than 70 publications about stem cell topics, including the landmark article in Cell describing the now patented Cymerus technique.
MSCs are currently being explored in nearly 500 clinical trials worldwide, but robust technologies for scaling and standardizing the manufacture of MSCs are scarce. Because Cynata is the only company currently using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as starting material for manufacturing therapeutic MSCs, it has the potential to solve the major bottleneck in therapeutic use of MSCs. For the first time in history, MSCs can be manufactured in unlimited quantities, in uniform batches, from a single donor, and at low cost – a powerful combination of advantages.
What is the Importance of the Cymerus Technology?
A short and pithy answer is that the Cymerus technology is a long-needed solution to traditional stem cell manufacturing challenges. The importance of the Cymerus technology is that it overcomes major roadblocks that have traditionally limited the therapeutic use of MSCs, which are donor-to-donor variability and the sky-high costs of manufacturing MSC products that rely upon multiple stem cell donors.
According to Cynata Therapeutics, “The proprietary Cymerus technology seeks to address a critical shortcoming in existing methods of production of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for therapeutic use, which is the ability to achieve economic manufacture at commercial scale. The Cymerus MCA platform provides a source of MSCs that is independent of donor limitations and provides a potential “off-the-shelf” stem cell platform for therapeutic product use, with a pharmaceutical business model and economies of scale.”
Importantly, the cost-savings advantages, consistent cellular product, and unlimited production capacity of the Cymerus technology position Cynata as an attractive manufacturing partner for biopharmaceutical companies pursuing MSC clinical trials. In particular, a consistent cellular product is absolutely essential to establishing consistent clinical findings, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
Patent Covers
The patent would cover the application of Cymerus in immunotherapy treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) and checkpoint inhibitor-based therapies. Cynata recently announced the filing of another patent application with IP Australia covering uses of Cymerus in oncology.
“We are thrilled to announce the filing of this patent application, which would strengthen our intellectual property portfolio in the oncology field and expand commercial opportunities for Cymerus in immunotherapy,” said Dr Ross Macdonald, Cynata’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Immunotherapy is one of the most exciting areas in oncology and our new intellectual property ensures Cynata is well-positioned to capitalise on future growth in the field.”
About Cynata Therapeutics
Cynata Therapeutics Limited (ASX:CYP) is an Australian clinical-stage stem cell and regenerative medicine company developing therapies based on its proprietary Cymerus stem cell technology platform. Cymerus overcomes critical issues in the production of therapeutic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by enabling the economical manufacture of commercial-scale MSCs, independent of multi-donor limitations. Cymerus’ novel approach utilises induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from a single blood donation to generate mesenchymoangioblasts (MCAs), a precursor that is used to manufacture an unlimited number of therapeutic MSCs. Cynata’s unique “off-the-shelf” Cymerus platform has the potential to create a new standard in the development and manufacture of stem cell therapeutics.
