Regenerative Medicine

Cell Medica Ltd has completed another stage of its strategy for developing immunotherapies for solid tumours with the acquisition of Delenex Therapeutics AG, an antibody specialist based in Switzer

TiGenix NV has decided to withdraw ChondroCelect, its autologous product for knee repair, from the market due to lack of sales. The product was approved for marketing in 2009, but has not been reimbursed in ‘key European countries,’ the company said on 5 July.

Mesoblast Ltd is to do an early interim analysis of a Phase 3 trial of its cell therapy for heart failure in order to take a strategic view of the programme’s future. The analysis will take place in the first quarter of 2017, the Australian company announced on 1 July.

TiGenix NV has secured a development and commercialisation deal for a late-stage cell therapy for a Crohn’s disease indication with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, generating an immediate upfront payment of €25 million while retaining rights to the product in the US.

The US Food and Drug Administration has put a clinical hold on a Phase 2 trial of a new immunotherapy developed by Juno Therapeutics Inc after two patients died in early July. A third patient had previously died at the end of May.

As gene editing technologies gain more traction, companies producing the new technologies are attracting more money from investors. One such company is CRISPR Therapeutics of Switzerland that has a number of preclinical projects investigating gene editing for therapeutic use.

A UK-based gene therapy company, Freeline Therapeutics, has received a third investment from the UCL Technology Fund, which supports research from University College London. The fund is managed by Albion Ventures in collaboration with UCL Business, the university’s technology transfer office.

Italy-based MolMed SpA has become the seventh company to get a positive recommendation from the European regulator to market an advanced therapy medicinal product, a group that includes cell and gene therapies as well as tissue-engineered products.

As gene editing technologies gain traction in laboratories around the world, companies producing the new technologies are attracting more money from investors. An example is CRISPR Therapeutics which has a number of preclinical projects where it is investigating gene editing for therapeutic use.

The European Medicines Agency has agreed to give an accelerated review of a gene therapy being developed by Kite Pharma Inc that promises to improve the standard of care for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a type of blood cancer.