EdiGene and Immunochina Announce Research and Development Collaboration to Develop Allogeneic CAR-T Therapy for Cancer

BEIJING, China & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EdiGene, Inc., which develops genome editing technologies to accelerate drug discovery and develop novel therapeutics for a broad range of diseases, and Immunochina，a company dedicated to innovative gene and cellular technology， today announced that they have formed a research and development collaboration to develop allogeneic CAR-T therapy for cancer.

Under this partnership, both companies will combine EdiGene’s expertise in genome editing and allogeneic T-cell process with Immunochina’s expertise in innovative CAR-T technology to develop potentially best-in-class allogeneic CAR-T therapeutics. Terms are not disclosed.

"EdiGene is a leading gene-editing company with cutting edge technology platform. It is our great pleasure to work with this team," said Ting He, Ph.D.，founder and CEO of Immunochina, "Make the Incurable Curable, which is Immunochina’s vision. We have accumulated considerable experience in late-stage hematological malignancies, with two IND approvals. Although a number of break throughs have been made by autologous T cells lately, allogeneic T cells could also play an important role in the future. The cooperation is a big step for both teams, and I believe we will make exciting discoveries together."

“We are excited to collaborate with Immunochina, one of the leading clinical-stage CAR-T companies,” said Dong Wei, Ph.D.，CEO of EdiGene, “We believe that allogeneic T-cell therapeutics has tremendous potential, by offering innovative T-cell therapies ‘off the shelf’ with more effective quality control and lower cost. By combining the expertise of EdiGene and Immunochina, we will be well positioned to develop such therapeutics and advance to clinics, one step closer to help the cancer patients in need.”

About EdiGene, Inc

EdiGene is a biotechnology company focused on leveraging the cutting-edge genome editing technologies to accelerate drug discovery and develop novel therapeutics for a broad range of genetic diseases and cancer. The company has established its proprietary ex vivo genome-editing platforms for hematopoietic stem cells and T cells, in vivo therapeutic platform based on RNA base editing, and high-throughput genome-editing screening to discover novel targeted therapies. Founded in 2015, EdiGene is headquartered in Beijing, with subsidiaries in Guangzhou, China and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. More information can be found at www.edigene.com.

About Immunochina

Immunochina is committed to the application of innovative gene and cellular technology for treatment of lethal diseases. The company owns integrated CAR-T platform, including core technologies such as large-scale viral vector production and primary immune cell processing. The pipeline includes several CAR-T candidates for treatment of advanced cancer, with two IND approvals. Founded in 2015, Immunochina is headquartered in Beijing. More information can be found at http://www.immunochina.com