Today, Sernova announced the exciting news that CCRM will be manufacturing its stem cell technology for diabetes, a disease which affects over 40 million patients. CCRM are experts in the stem cell manufacturing field and will be Sernova’s cell manufacturing arm.
Previously, in September 2015, Sernova announced it had signed a license agreement with the University Health Network (UHN) located in Toronto, Canada, for exclusive worldwide rights to specific technologies developed by two UHN researchers, Dr. Cristina Nostro and Dr. Gordon Keller. This cell manufacturing agreement executes Sernova’s worldwide exclusive license agreement to the Nostro/Keller technology and puts Sernova center stage within the diabetes space, where the company is actively working to secure large pharma partners.
This program is advancing in parallel to Sernova’s hemophilia program with multibillion dollar potential, in which a consortium of academic development partners and full non-dilutive funding ($8.5M Cdn) has been secured through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 grant mechanism.
The full press release is included below, with permission from media contact, Janet Vasquez.
Sernova Announces Agreement with CCRM to Produce Specialized Cells for the Treatment of Diabetes
CCRM to establish, optimize and validate methods for producing Sernova’s transformative cell- based therapies for Type-1 diabetes
LONDON, ONTARIO – (Marketwire – January 26, 2016) – Sernova Corp. (TSX-V: SVA) (OTCQB: SEOVF) (FSE: PSH), a clinical stage company developing medical technologies for the long-term treatment of chronic diseases including diabetes and hemophilia, announced today it has entered into a service agreement with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) to establish, optimize and validate Sernova’s licensed technology for creating stem cell derived therapeutic cells that produce insulin and are glucose responsive.
“Sernova’s Cell Pouch System(TM) is a novel, preclinically validated and clinically tested platform for multiple types of therapeutic cells, including human islets,” said Dr. Philip Toleikis, President and CEO Sernova Corp. “Sernova’s CCRM partnership with CCRM’s expertise in developing production processes for cellular therapies is an important step in Sernova’s plan to commercialize an unlimited supply of glucose responsive, insulin producing cells for the Cell Pouch System. Sernova continues to seek out and evaluate optimal unlimited cell sources both internally developed and through corporate partnerships involving stem cell derived, and xenogeneic cell sources. Our manufacturing partnership with CCRM will provide the ability for the scale up production required to ensure successful commercialization of Sernova’s cellular therapies for diabetes,” added Dr. Philip Toleikis.
CCRM is a unique not-for-profit group that is solely focused on developing and commercializing cell therapy and regenerative medicine technologies. Sernova is a member of CCRM’s industry consortium, a group of nearly 50 companies formed to address bottlenecks in cell therapy and regenerative medicine product pipelines by enabling industry to engage with CCRM’s broad network of researchers and institutions. Industry consortium members represent key sectors in regenerative medicine – therapeutics, devices, reagents and cells as tools – and tremendous industry experience.
“As a member of CCRM’s industry consortium, Sernova is a valued partner in our quest to develop global breakthroughs in regenerative medicine,” remarked Michael May, President and CEO of CCRM. “Commercializing a regenerative medicine therapy for diabetes – the goal for Sernova and CCRM – has the potential to disrupt and transform current standard of treatment. We are excited about the timing of this partnership,” added Dr. May, “as it is our expectation that projects like this become candidates for the new advanced manufacturing initiative that we announced during a visit by Prime Minister Trudeau in mid-January.
About Sernova
Sernova Corp. is a clinical stage regenerative medicine Company developing medical technologies for the treatment of chronic debilitating metabolic diseases such as diabetes, blood disorders including hemophilia, and other diseases treated through replacement of proteins or hormones missing or in short supply within the body. Sernova is developing the Cell Pouch System, an implantable medical device and therapeutic cells (donor, xenogeneic or stem cell derived therapeutic cells) which then release proteins and/or hormones as required.
Forward Looking Information
This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur. Although Sernova believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which include our beliefs about the functionality of the Cell Pouch System and our cell technologies, and manufacturing capabilities of CCRM are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Sernova’s management on the date such statements were made. Sernova expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Press Contact: Janet Vasquez/JVPRN; 212-645-5498; jvasquez@jvprny.com
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