Thursday, October 12, 2023
Coeptis Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: COEP), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in innovative cell therapy platforms for cancer treatment, has announced an expansion of its exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Pittsburgh. This expanded agreement now encompasses the integration of the SNAP-CAR technology platform into natural killer (NK) cells.
This development extends the scope of the original exclusive license agreement with the University of Pittsburgh, which focused on SNAP-CAR T-Cell technology, a "universal" CAR T technology platform designed to target multiple antigens simultaneously, with the potential to address various hematologic and solid tumors, including HER2-expressing cancer.
The addition of SNAP-CAR NK technology introduces a third NK-focused technology to Coeptis' development portfolio. Recently, Coeptis also entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Deverra Therapeutics, gaining rights to a proprietary allogeneic stem cell expansion and differentiation platform for generating NK cells from pooled donor cord blood CD34+ cells. These NK cells are utilized in first-in-human clinical trials without HLA matching. This combination of a scalable and cost-effective cell generation platform, along with the universal SNAP-CAR technology, holds promise for creating a fully universal (HLA matching and antigen-agnostic) targeted cell therapy.
In addition to the expanded agreement with the University of Pittsburgh, Coeptis has secured exclusive rights from VyGen Bio to engage in negotiations for the acquisition of the GEAR™ cell therapy and companion diagnostic platforms. This includes CD38-GEAR-NK, a natural killer (NK) cell therapy designed for the treatment of CD38+ cancers, initially focusing on multiple myeloma.
Dave Mehalick, President and CEO of Coeptis Therapeutics, emphasized the significance of this agreement's expansion, underscoring the company's commitment to staying at the forefront of this groundbreaking technology by integrating it with other in-house technologies obtained through partnerships, such as the assets recently licensed from Deverra Therapeutics.
Jason Lohmueller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, expressed his enthusiasm about the expanded partnership with Coeptis. He highlighted the potential of NK cells in developing enhanced treatments for various cancers. The inclusion of allogeneic NK cells in the agreement offers the opportunity to create cell therapies that are convenient and more widely accessible to patients. This approach aims to develop therapies capable of targeting multiple antigens simultaneously while providing better control over potential toxicity.
