On September 17, 2020 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, reported the signing of a research collaboration agreement (Press release, Papyrus Therapeutics, SEP 17, 2020, View Source [SID1234565317]).

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"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."

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."