Lineage Cell Therapeutics Awarded Grant From Israel Innovation Authority for Development of a Bio-Retinal Patch for Treatment...
September 08 2020 - 08:00AM
Business Wire
Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American and TASE: LCTX),
a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel cell
therapies for unmet medical needs, today announced that the Company
has been awarded a new research & development grant for 2020 of
up to 1.95 million Israeli New Shekels (approximately $573,000)
from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). The grant, which is one
of the first under the IIA’s bio-convergence initiative, provides
funding for the development of a novel bio-retinal patch for the
treatment of retinal diseases by Lineage’s subsidiary, Cell Cure
Neurosciences Ltd., in partnership with Precise Bio Ltd. (Precise
Bio).
“The clinical data we are generating from our OpRegen® program
is increasing our confidence in the use of cell transplants to
treat serious retinal conditions such as dry AMD,” said Brian M.
Culley, Lineage’s CEO. “OpRegen is a suspension of RPE cells, but
in certain patients with dry AMD or other degenerative conditions,
there may be a role for a scaffold with single or multiple layers
of cells of different or identical types. For this reason, we are
excited to expand our efforts in ophthalmology through this
partnership with Precise Bio and with financial backing from a new
IIA grant. This work will expand the potential addressable patient
population of our ophthalmology programs and support new areas of
exploration for other cell therapy indications.”
Mr. Culley continued, “The partnerships we have built with
notable institutions such as the IIA, the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine and Cancer Research UK, provide not only
capital but external validation of our programs, and we are working
to strengthen and expand these alliances moving forward.
Concurrently, we continue to actively look to identify new
partnerships to help support the development of all of our cell
therapy programs.”
“The collaboration with Cell Cure Neurosciences is addressing
one of the unmet needs in the ophthalmology field,” stated Aryeh
Batt, Precise Bio’s CEO. “Cell Cure Neurosciences and Precise Bio’s
R&D teams have been working together and exhibited promising
initial results. The IIA grant which was awarded recognizes this
program as an innovative and breakthrough approach and endorses the
capabilities and technologies of Precise Bio and Lineage to
evaluate a therapy to treat severe retinal diseases.”
About The Israel Innovation Authority
The Israel Innovation Authority, an independent publicly funded
agency, was created to provide a variety of practical tools and
funding platforms aimed at effectively addressing the dynamic and
changing needs of the local and international innovation
ecosystems. This includes early-stage entrepreneurs, mature
companies developing new products or manufacturing processes,
academic groups seeking to transfer their ideas to the market,
global corporations interested in collaborating with Israeli
technology, Israeli companies seeking new markets abroad and
traditional factories and plants seeking to incorporate innovative
and advanced manufacturing into their businesses. More information
is available at:
https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/contentpage/israel-innovation-authority.
About Precise Bio Ltd.
Precise Bio is a regenerative medicine company that is advancing
the use of bio-printed tissues and organs in patients in
ophthalmology and is building a broad portfolio of R&D programs
in additional medical disciplines. The company’s commercial and
R&D programs are based on its innovative 4D-bio-fabrication
technology. This innovative platform comprises cell expansion,
biomaterials, processes, printing technology and other critical
technologies that are leading the way toward generating a robust
pipeline of proprietary products with substantial clinical and
commercial value. The company’s robust technology platform allows
it to advance its fabricated human cornea program concurrent with
the development of tissues for use in ophthalmic indications.
Moreover, the company’s technology overcomes multiple challenges in
scalable, reproducible manufacturing of bio-printed tissues and
organs. This positions Precise Bio for leadership in the field of
regenerative medicine to address unmet needs in many indications
which cannot be treated with donor tissue or are limited by the
number of available donor tissues and organs. The company maintains
offices, laboratories and production facilities in North Carolina,
in the U.S. and in Shoham, Israel. For more information, please
visit https://www.precise-bio.com/.
About Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc.
Lineage Cell Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology
company developing novel cell therapies for unmet medical needs.
Lineage’s programs are based on its robust proprietary cell-based
therapy platform and associated in-house development and
manufacturing capabilities. With this platform Lineage develops and
manufactures specialized, terminally differentiated human cells
from its pluripotent and progenitor cell starting materials. These
differentiated cells are developed to either replace or support
cells that are dysfunctional or absent due to degenerative disease
or traumatic injury or administered as a means of helping the body
mount an effective immune response to cancer. Lineage’s clinical
programs are in markets with billion dollar opportunities and
include three allogeneic (“off-the-shelf”) product candidates: (i)
OpRegen®, a retinal pigment epithelium transplant therapy in Phase
1/2a development for the treatment of dry age-related macular
degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the developed world;
(ii) OPC1, an oligodendrocyte progenitor cell therapy in Phase 1/2a
development for the treatment of acute spinal cord injuries; and
(iii) VAC, an allogeneic dendritic cell therapy platform for
immuno-oncology and infectious disease, currently in clinical
development for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and in
preclinical development for additional cancers and as a vaccine
against infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus which
causes COVID-19. For more information, please visit
www.lineagecell.com or follow the Company on Twitter
@LineageCell.
Forward-Looking Statements
Lineage cautions you that all statements, other than statements
of historical facts, contained in this press release, are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, in some
cases, can be identified by terms such as “believe,” “may,” “will,”
“estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “design,” “intend,” “expect,”
“could,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “would,”
“contemplate,” project,” “target,” “tend to,” or the negative
version of these words and similar expressions. Such statements
include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Lineage’s
expected addressable patient population, the potential for
addressing future indications, and Lineage’s partnership
evaluations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Lineage’s
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
different from future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this
press release, including risks and uncertainties inherent in
Lineage’s business and other risks in Lineage’s filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). Lineage’s
forward-looking statements are based upon its current expectations
and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to
be incorrect. All forward-looking statements are expressly
qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Further
information regarding these and other risks is included under the
heading “Risk Factors” in Lineage’s periodic reports with the SEC,
including Lineage’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC
on March 12, 2020 and its other reports, which are available from
the SEC’s website. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on
which they were made. Lineage undertakes no obligation to update
such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that
exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by
law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200908005333/en/
Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. IR Ioana C. Hone
(ir@lineagecell.com) (442) 287-8963 Solebury Trout IR
Gitanjali Jain Ogawa (Gogawa@troutgroup.com) (646) 378-2949
Russo Partners – Media Relations Nic Johnson or David Schull
Nic.johnson@russopartnersllc.com David.schull@russopartnersllc.com
(212) 845-4242
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