FUKUOKA, Japan, and BORDEAUX, France / February 15th, 2023 – GAIA BioMedicine, a Japan-based clinical-stage company pioneering allogeneic NK-like cell therapies against solid tumors, and TreeFrog Therapeutics, a global biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of cell therapies based on the biomimetic C-Stem™ technology platform, today announced they have entered into a collaboration for the expansion of donor-derived NK-like cells.
“With 3 ongoing clinical trials, GAIA is one of the world’s most advanced cell therapy companies in the field of solid tumors. They have a very compelling allogeneic immune cell therapy strategy, which relies on GAIA-102 NK-like cells – a specific population of immune cells isolated from healthy donor blood samples that exhibit strong anti-tumor cytotoxic potency. Our Japanese team is very excited to start collaborating with GAIA scientists, and we strongly believe that GAIA’s innovative approach, combined with the C-Stem™ platform, could lead to fast and broad patient access to adoptive cell therapies against solid tumors”.
– Frederic Desdouits, Ph.D., CEO of TreeFrog Therapeutics
“Adoptive cell therapies for highly prevalent cancers, such as lung cancer, which is the second most common cancer worldwide with over 2 million cases every year, require the mass-production of immune cells. This is one of the challenges for our company and many other biotech companies that develop cellular and tissue-based products. In our case, TreeFrog’s C-Stem™ technology could enable the massive expansion of GAIA-102 (NK-like cells) in conventional stirred-tank bioreactors, while maintaining its desired function and phenotype. In the process of further developing our adoptive immune cell therapy programs and expanding their therapeutic reach, C-Stem™ could constitute an alternative platform for large-scale GMP manufacturing.”
– Kazuyuki Kuramori, President and CEO of GAIA BioMedicine
About GAIA BioMedicine
GAIA BioMedicine, Inc., was founded in 2015 by Prof Yoshikazu Yonemitsu (Graduate school of Kyushu University) as a spin-off venture of Kyushu University. Now a clinical-stage, technology-driven biopharmaceutical company, Gaia is advancing several cell therapy programs in solid cancers based on GAIA-102 (NK-like cells).
About TreeFrog Therapeutics
TreeFrog Therapeutics is a French-based biotech company aiming to unlock access to cell therapies for millions of patients. Bringing together over 100 biophysicists, cell biologists and bioproduction engineers, TreeFrog Therapeutics raised $82M over the past 3 years to advance a pipeline of stem cell-based therapies in immuno-oncology and regenerative medicine. In 2022, the company opened technological hubs in Boston, USA, and Kobe, Japan, with the aim of driving the adoption of the C-Stem™ platform and establishing strategic alliances with leading academic, biotech, and industry players in the field of cell therapy.