On October 11, 2023 Coeptis Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: COEP) ("Coeptis" or "the Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cell therapy platforms for cancer, reported that it has expanded its exclusive license agreement with the University of Pittsburgh to include the SNAP-CAR technology platform in natural killer (NK) cells (Press release, University of Pittsburgh, OCT 11, 2023, View Source [SID1234635864]). This amended agreement builds upon the original exclusive license agreement with the University of Pittsburgh for SNAP-CAR T-Cell, a "universal" CAR T technology platform designed to target multiple antigens simultaneously and potentially address a range of hematologic and solid tumors, including HER2-expressing cancer.
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The addition of SNAP-CAR NK adds a third NK-focused technology to Coeptis’ development portfolio. Recently Coeptis completed an exclusive license agreement with Deverra Therapeutics, which included rights to a proprietary allogeneic stem cell expansion and differentiation platform for the generation of NK cells from pooled donor cord blood CD34+ cells that are being used without HLA matching in first-in-human clinical trials. This highly scalable and cost-effective cell generation platform combined with the universal SNAP-CAR technology has the potential to generate a first-in-class fully universal (no HLA matching and antigen agnostic) targeted cell therapy. Coeptis has also obtained exclusive rights from VyGen Bio to negotiate towards the acquisition of the GEAR cell therapy and companion diagnostic platforms, including CD38-GEAR-NK, a natural killer (NK) cell therapy for the treatment of CD38+ cancers with an initial focus on multiple myeloma.
"The original exclusive license agreement with the University of Pittsburgh was a watershed moment for Coeptis, and with the growing recognition of the potential of NK cells, we believe this amendment is another extremely important step for this partnership and for Coeptis," said Dave Mehalick, President and CEO of Coeptis Therapeutics. "Expanding this agreement to include engineering of NK cells to generate SNAP-CAR NK therapies highlights our commitment to being on the leading edge of this important technology with a team that is fully capable of expanding upon the existing technology to incorporate and synergize with complementary technologies that we have brought inhouse to Coeptis, including assets recently in-licensed from Deverra Therapeutics."
"We are pleased to expand our partnership with Coeptis as we work to advance our efforts in developing a universal CAR-T system and believe NK cells have the potential to be an important cell type for developing better treatments for a range of cancers," said Jason Lohmueller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Immunology in the Division of Surgical Oncology Research, University of Pittsburgh. "Expanding this agreement to include allogeneic NK cells enables our teams to develop cell therapies that can be developed with off-the-shelf convenience and greater access to patients. We continue to strive for therapies that can target multiple antigens simultaneously while also offering greater control over toxicity."