Industry Update: Capital market and finances
Latest developments compiled from 01 — 31 December 2014
Latest developments in the field of stem cell research and regenerative medicine compiled from publicly available information and press releases from non-academic institutions 01 — 31 December 2014, scheduled to be published in Volume 10 Issue 3 of Regenerative Medicine.
BrainStorm
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (Israel; www.brainstormcell.com) was awarded a grant of approximately US$ 1.1 million from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist, MATIMOP (www.matimop.org.il/ocs.html). This is the eighth year that BrainStorm has been in receipt of grant support from the Office of the Chief Scientist, which is part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Program to support innovative technologies in Israel. The funds will support the development NurOwnâ„¢, BrainStorm’s innovative MSC-based platform for treating neurodegenerative diseases including BrainStorm’s phase 2 clinical program in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Additional information about the clinical trial is available at http://clinicaltrials.gov (ID: NCT02017912).
CIRM and MATIMOP
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM; www.cirm.ca.gov) has reached a cooperation agreement with Israel’s Center for R&D (MATIMOP; www.matimop.org.il) to help advance stem cell research and regenerative medicine. The agreement, which was signed on December 5th, laid the foundation for potential Californian-Israeli stem cell research programs, making it easier for researchers to obtain joint funding for their work.
Selecta
Selecta Biosciences (MA, USA; www.selectabio.com), has been awarded a US$ 3.2 Million grant from Skolkovo Foundation to develop an Synthetic Vaccine Particles (SVPâ„¢) immunotherapy to treat cancers caused by infections with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The grant award will assist with advancing Selecta’s proprietary SVP cancer immunotherapy from preclinical through early clinical evaluation. This immuno-oncology program is designed to develop novel SVP immunotherapies capable of harnessing the body’s ‘killer’ immune cells, known as cytolytic T-lymphocytes (CTL), to attack HPV-transformed tumor cells. For Immunooncology applications SVP products are capable of being used either alone or in conjunction with other cancer immunotherapies to elicit a focused and durable immune response specifically targeted against tumors. Selecta’s initial programs in cancer include cervical, head, neck and other cancers.