TxCell Completes Aligning Operations with Strategic Refocus

Resources now focused on promising CAR-Treg programs, with the addition of new skills through leading recruitment

VALBONNE, France--()--Regulatory News:

TxCell SA (Paris:TXCL) (FR0010127662 – TXCL), a biotechnology company developing innovative, personalized cellular immunotherapies using regulatory T cells (Treg) to treat severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, today announces that it has completed adapting its organization to deliver results from its new strategic priorities.

TxCell has appointed François Meyer, PhD, Executive Chairman of TxCell, to head its new research group. Dr. Meyer contributes 35 years of experience to TxCell as head of research of Rhone Poulenc Rorer and Aventis Pharma (Sanofi), with a significant background in molecular biology.

The research group encompasses three units: Cell Engineering, Pharmacology and Process Development. The group currently comprises 31 employees, including 10 PhD and 9 engineers. The three units have been expanded and designed to target achievements in the following areas:

  • Cell Engineering: in addition to the recent appointment of Li Zhou, PhD, as Vice President, Cell Engineering as head of this unit, TxCell has also recently recruited additional international scientists. These new key skills have been acquired for the engineering and optimization of CAR constructs, design and implementation of suitable analytical assays, as well as vector engineering and optimization.
  • Pharmacology: this unit has been designed to focus on Treg cell biology and specifically on the mechanism of action of cell therapy products. It will also concentrate on pharmacology from proof-of-concept in animal models to non-clinical packages to prepare for the first-in-man clinical studies.
  • Process Development: this unit is now focused on two priorities, the finalization of the improved ASTrIA process and the development of a new manufacturing process for the CAR-Treg ENTrIA platform, ready for entering clinical development by 2018.

Arnaud Foussat, PhD, formerly CSO, is now Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Head of External Collaborations & Alliance Management. In addition to overseeing new innovations, intellectual property and government fundings, he will also be responsible for managing existing and future academic and pharma collaborations.

Dr. Miguel Forte, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, will be leaving the company.

TxCell has now completed its strategic and organizational transformation. I would like to thank all stakeholders, notably Miguel Forte, for their contribution to this rapid, profound turnaround,” said Stéphane Boissel, CEO of TxCell. “We can now look to the future with great expectations and with one major objective in mind: for TxCell to be the first organization ever to put a CAR-Treg product in clinical development, with the aim of achieving this by 2018.

About TxCell – www.txcell.com

TxCell is a biotechnology company that develops platforms for innovative, personalized T cell immunotherapies for the treatment of severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with high unmet medical need. TxCell is targeting a range of autoimmune diseases (both T-cell and B-cell-mediated) including Crohn’s disease, lupus nephritis, bullous pemphigoid and multiple sclerosis, as well as transplantation-related inflammatory disorders.

TxCell is the only clinical-stage cellular therapy company fully dedicated to the science of regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs). Tregs are a recently discovered T cell population for which anti-inflammatory properties have been demonstrated. Contrary to conventional approaches based on non-specific polyclonal Tregs, TxCell is exclusively developing antigen-specific Tregs. This antigen specificity may either come from pre-existing Treg cell T-Cell Receptor (TCR) or from genetic modifications with Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR). TxCell is developing two proprietary technology platforms, ASTrIA, which is composed of non-modified naturally antigen-specific Tregs, and ENTrIA, which is composed of genetically-engineered Tregs.

Based in Sophia-Antipolis, France, TxCell is listed on Euronext Paris and currently has 45 employees.

Next events

 

Financial and business conference

Nov 30-Dec 1, 2016     BioFIT     Lille (France)
Jan 9-13, 2017 J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference San Francisco (US)
Jan 26, 2017 Invest Securities BioMed Event Paris (France)

Scientific conference

Nov 29-30, 2016 Cell Therapy Manufacturing & Gene Therapy Congress Amsterdam (NL)
Jan 17-20, 2017 Phacilitate Leaders Forum Miami (US)

Forward-Looking Statements - TxCell

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of TxCell, which shall not be considered per se as historical facts, including TxCell’s ability to develop, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for specific products, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements, needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of TxCell are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of TxCell may not be indicative of their in the future.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. Although the management of TxCell believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonably made, they are based largely on the current expectations of TxCell as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of TxCell could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development of the Company’s products, which may not succeed, or in the delivery of TxCell’s products marketing authorizations by the relevant regulatory authorities and, in general, any factor that could affects TxCell capacity to commercialize the products it develops, as well as, any other risk and uncertainties developed or identified in any public documents filed by TxCell with the AMF, included those listed in chapter 4 “Risk factors” of the 2015 document de référence approved by the AMF on May 24, 2016 under number R.16-048. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press release will in fact be realized. Notwithstanding the compliance with article 223-1 of the General Regulation of the AMF (the information disclosed must be “accurate, precise and fairly presented“), TxCell is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contacts

TxCell
Caroline Courme, Tel: +33(0) 4 97 21 83 00
IR & Communication Director
caroline.courme@txcell.com
or
Image Box – Press relations
Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall, Tel: +44(0) 20 8943 4685
neil.hunter@imageboxpr.co.uk
michelle.boxall@imageboxpr.co.uk
or
NewCap – Investor relations
Julien Perez / Pierre Laurent, Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52
txcell@newcap.eu

Contacts

TxCell
Caroline Courme, Tel: +33(0) 4 97 21 83 00
IR & Communication Director
caroline.courme@txcell.com
or
Image Box – Press relations
Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall, Tel: +44(0) 20 8943 4685
neil.hunter@imageboxpr.co.uk
michelle.boxall@imageboxpr.co.uk
or
NewCap – Investor relations
Julien Perez / Pierre Laurent, Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52
txcell@newcap.eu