PK MED Receives €1.5M DeepTech Non-Dilutive Financing From Bpifrance for the Development of a Local Cell-Homing Implant to Enhance Bone Marrow Transplantation
July 24 2024 - 3:00AM
Business Wire
PK MED, a French biotech company, privately owned, and
established in 2019 by Truffle Capital, announced it has
secured a non-dilutive DeepTech financing of € 1.5 million from
Bpifrance. The funding will accelerate the company’s project
PKM-02, an innovative cell-homing technology aiming to enhance bone
marrow transplantation in several diseases with high unmet medical
need, such as leukemias and hemoglobinopathies.
Allogenic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT), also
known as bone marrow transplantation, involves transferring
hematopoietic stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient with
depleted or dysfunctional bone marrow. In a broad range of
hematologic disorders, this therapy can be curative and/or prolong
a patient’s life. More than 25,000 allogenic HSCTs are performed
per year in the US and EU, and the treatment’s success depends on
sufficient hematopoietic stem cell seeding, engraftment, and
expansion within the bone marrow of the patient. However, the
fraction of transplanted cells able to make their way to the bone
marrow, known as homing, is reported to be low (1-10%). In
addition, many patients are not eligible for the procedure, due to
limited donor matching and an aggressive conditioning regimen
needed to obtain a successful engraftment of the donor cells. Thus,
there is an urgent unmet medical need to enhance the homing and
engraftment of the transplanted cells.
PK MED’s innovative approach for this PKM-02 project, is based
on the development of a therapeutic implant locally injected into
the patient's bone marrow prior to allogeneic HSCT. This drug-based
unique technology, combined with a biodegradable scaffold, is aimed
at increasing the homing of the transplanted cells, as well as
their subsequent engraftment. PKM-02 has shown several promising in
vitro results, and PK MED is currently initiating preclinical
studies. PK MED is considering extending this innovative technology
to other applications in tissue regeneration.
Gauthier Pouliquen, Ph.D., CEO of PK MED, comments: “The
development of our local cell-homing implant and the support of
Bpifrance are a proof of PK MED's technological excellence and its
commitment to medicine. Our ambition is to significantly advance
bone marrow transplantation and cell regeneration techniques, for
the benefit of all patients with hematologic disorders.”
About PK MED
PK MED is a French biotechnology company, founded in 2019 by
Truffle Capital, developing injectable smart implants for drug
release in rheumatology and cell homing for bone marrow
transplantation. PK MED's unique expertise and technological
know-how enable evolving existing systemic treatments into new,
safer and more effective patented local therapies.
PK MED has developed a portfolio of projects in indications
where medical needs are high, starting with gout (PKM-01) and
Hematopoietic Stem Cells transplants (PKM-02).
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