WEST CHESTER, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Papyrus Therapeutics, Inc. (“Papyrus” or the “Company”), an emerging biopharma company developing novel extracellular tumor suppressor therapies for the treatment of cancer and Oxford Biomedica plc (LSE:OXB or the “Group”), a leading gene and cell therapy group, announced today the signing of a research collaboration agreement.
The collaboration includes the assessment of the impact and therapeutic benefit of Papyrus’ PYTX-002, a potential first-in-class gene replacement therapy that will confer ‘cellular pharmacy’ properties on a CAR-T cell therapy developed by Oxford Biomedica, initially in preclinical in vivo models of solid tumors.
The Oxford Biomedica lentiviral platform technology was used in the first FDA and EMA approved CAR-T cell therapy - Kymriah™ (tisagenlecleucel). The Group’s lead CAR-T immunotherapy candidate, OXB-302, is a lentiviral CAR-T product targeting the 5T4 antigen expressed on the cell surface of many solid cancers.
“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Oxford Biomedica on the development on a CAR-T product candidate incorporating PYTX-002. This collaboration highlights the potential utility and versatility of the Company’s technology as a monotherapy as well as in combination with other treatment modalities as an effective cancer therapeutic in areas of high unmet medical need,” said Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Paul Blake.
Papyrus Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Hani Gabra said, “Bringing together Papyrus’ technology that targets cancer through tumor suppressor replacement and conditions the microenvironment to promote activation of CAR-T therapy simultaneously provides a potentially synergistic reprogramming of the tumor and its microenvironment to leverage CAR-T therapy.”
About Papyrus Therapeutics
Papyrus Therapeutics Inc. is a privately held emerging preclinical stage biopharma company developing a portfolio of cancer therapeutics focused on a novel target, Opioid-binding Cell Adhesion Molecule (OPCML), in areas of high unmet medical need. OPCML is a tumor suppressor gene that is silenced epigenetically in many cancers and this allows disease progression through dysregulation of apoptosis, epithelial-to mesenchymal transition (EMT), cell adhesion, migration, invasion and metastasis. The company is the global leader in the understanding of and development of therapeutics based on recombinant OPCML. Papyrus’ deep expertise and understanding of this target is based on many years of research and multiple publications on this target by the company’s Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Hani Gabra. Papyrus is based in Pennsylvania in the US and in Oxford in the UK.
About Oxford Biomedica
Oxford Biomedica (LSE:OXB) is a leading, fully integrated, gene and cell therapy group focused on developing life changing treatments for serious diseases. Oxford Biomedica and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) have built a sector-leading lentiviral vector delivery platform (LentiVector®), which the Group leverages to develop in vivo and ex vivo products both in-house and with partners. The Group has created a valuable proprietary portfolio of gene and cell therapy product candidates in the areas of oncology, ophthalmology, CNS disorders, liver diseases and respiratory disease. The Group has also entered into a number of partnerships, including with Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi, Axovant Gene Therapies, Orchard Therapeutics, Santen, Beam Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Imperial Innovations, through which it has long-term economic interests in other potential gene and cell therapy products. Additionally, the group has signed a 3-year master supply and development agreement with AstraZeneca for large-scale manufacturing of the adenoviral based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222. Oxford Biomedica is based across several locations in Oxfordshire, UK and employs more than 550 people. Further information is available at www.oxb.com