ST.
PAUL, Minn., Oct. 29,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ScaleReady, in collaboration
with Wilson Wolf Manufacturing and Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:
TECH), today announced that Luminary Therapeutics has been awarded
a $300,000 G-Rex® Grant. Luminary's
G-Rex® Grant will enable expeditious process development
and IND-enabling studies of several novel CAR γδ T cell
therapies that will be evaluated in Phase 1 clinical trials for the
treatment of various autoimmune conditions.
Luminary Therapeutics' CAR γδ T cell drug products contain a
combination of the Vδ1 and Vδ2 subsets, a distinct approach from
other developers of γδ T cell therapies, which Luminary anticipates
providing improved cytotoxicity, greater adaptive capacity, and
increased persistence. Luminary's technology also employs an
"immune cloaking" mechanism to assist the γδ T cells in
evading the host's immune system by reducing the expression of MHC
class I/II on the surface of the γδ T cells. Finally, Luminary
Therapeutics deploys Bio-Techne's novel transposition-based
gene engineering technology called TcBuster™ which has fundamental
advantages in the reduction of time and cost associated with
clinical translation of a cell therapy drug product. Luminary has
previously presented cost analysis indicating that their CAR γδ T
cell therapies can yield 180-200 patient doses per manufacturing
run at a manufacturing cost of less than $10,000 per drug product.
"Luminary is very grateful to be a beneficiary of the G-Rex
Grant Program. The G-Rex Grant Program is a very creative,
non-dilutive funding mechanism that aligns the interest of all
stakeholders. It will directly impact our ability to generate the
clinically significant data we need to attract the investment
required to advance the state of our γδ T cell pipeline," says
Mr. Jeff Liter, CEO of Luminary
Therapeutics.
"We're happy to support Luminary Therapeutics with a G-Rex
Grant. The program will accelerate the clinical use of
Luminary's γδ T cell therapy program and this is yet another
example of how the G-Rex Grant Program is saving time and money for
recipients," said John Wilson, CEO
of Wilson Wolf Manufacturing and co-inventor of G-Rex.
As part of the G-Rex Grant, Luminary will optimize several CAR
γδ T cell therapies to enhance the resiliency, safety, and function
of their CAR by incorporating safety switches, novel co-stimulatory
domains, endogenous growth factor production, and MHC-I/II
inhibitory elements. Large-scale, cGMP-compliant manufacturing will
occur to support multiple Investigational New Drug (IND)
applications that are estimated to be filed with the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for the initiation of several Phase 1 clinical
trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the several CAR γδ T
cell therapies in a suite of autoimmune diseases.
ScaleReady's G-Rex Grant Program is a $20M initiative to advance the state of cell and
gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) development and manufacturing by
awarding individual Grant Awards worth up to $300,000. G-Rex Grant Recipients also gain access
to exclusive support from ScaleReady's growing consortium of
G-Rex Grant Partners who bring best-in-class tools and technologies
as well as unparalleled knowledge and expertise in the areas of
cGMP manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, CGT business
operations, and more.
For more information about the G-Rex® Grant Program, please
contact info@scaleready.com.
About Luminary Therapeutics
Luminary Therapeutics is
revolutionizing allogeneic CAR-T therapy by pioneering a triple
receptor CAR design aimed at surpassing the efficacy of
conventional single receptor CD19 treatments for autoimmune
diseases. Additionally, our innovative split co-stimulatory CAR
design is poised to propel the industry forward in addressing
solid tumors. Currently, Luminary is conducting three Phase
I First-in-Human trials utilizing an autologous format to establish
safety and detect early indications of efficacy. Encouragingly, our
second treated patient has already achieved a complete response
(CR) without experiencing cytokine release syndrome (CRS). As we
embark on the early stages of a Series A fundraising round,
Luminary is committed to advancing our assets through the clinical
trial pipeline, bringing hope and transformative therapies to
patients in need.
About ScaleReady
ScaleReady provides the field of cell
and gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) with a G-Rex centric
manufacturing platform that enables the world's most practical,
flexible, scalable, and affordable CGT drug product development and
manufacturing.
The G-Rex manufacturing platform is currently used by a rapidly
growing list of over 800 organizations and is producing drug
products for approximately 50% of CGT clinical trials as well as 5
commercially approved CGT drugs.
CGT entities relying on the breadth and scope of ScaleReady's
expertise can expect to save years of time and millions of dollars
on the path to CGT commercialization.
For more information about the ScaleReady G-Rex® Grant Program,
please contact info@scaleready.com.
About Wilson Wolf Manufacturing
Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) is dedicated to
simplifying cell and gene-modified cell (CGT) therapy research,
process development, and manufacturing. This is being
accomplished through its scalable G-Rex technology, which is used
throughout the world in CGT applications ranging from basic
research to commercial drug production.
Wilson Wolf's mission is to
create hope for cancer patients, one G-Rex® device at a time.
About Bio-Techne Corporation
Bio-Techne Corporation
(NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing
innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and
clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne, in partnership with
Wilson Wolf, is creating products
such as media and cytokines that are specifically tailored to
G-Rex® Bioreactors, including right-sized reagent quantities in
containers that are tailored to high throughput closed-system
manufacturing. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands,
please visit https://www.bio-techne.com or follow the Company on
social media at: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
Contact: David Clair, Vice
President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
david.clair@bio-techne.com
612-656-4416
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SOURCE Bio-Techne Corporation
