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Citius Pharmaceuticals Signs an Exclusive Worldwide Licensing Agreement with Novellus Therapeutics for Unique iMSC-Therapy for Acute Inflammatory Respiratory Conditions including COVID-19 Related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
-- NoveCite, a newly formed subsidiary of Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc., plans to develop, manufacture and commercialize a unique induced mesenchymal stem
About this update from Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"-- NoveCite, a newly formed subsidiary of Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc., plans to develop, manufacture and commercialize a unique induced mesenchymal stem cells (NC-iMSCs)\n -- Novellus, a Cambridge, Mass-based cell engineering company, has developed patented, non-immunogenic mRNA-based induced mesenchymal stem cell (iMSC) platform\n -- NC-iMSCs demonstrate higher potency, uniformity and consistency - significant advantages over donor derived MSCs\n\n\nCRANFORD, N.J., Oct. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (\"Citius\" or the \"Company\") (Nasdaq: CTXR), a specialty pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing critical care drug products, announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Novellus Therapeutics Limited (\"Novellus\") to license iPSC-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs), and has created a new subsidiary, NoveCite, that will be focused on developing cellular therapies.\nNoveCite has a worldwide exclusive license from Novellus, an engineered cellular medicines company, to develop and commercialize NoveCite mesenchymal stem cells (\"NC-iMSCs\") to treat acute respiratory conditions with a near term focus on Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (\"ARDS\") associated with COVID-19. Several cell therapy companies using donor-derived MSC therapies in treating ARDS have demonstrated that MSCs reduce inflammation, enhance clearance of pathogens and stimulate tissue repair in the lungs. Almost all these positive results are from early clinical trials or under the emergency authorization program. \nNC-iMSCs are the next generation mesenchymal stem cell therapy. They are believed to be differentiated and superior to donor-derived MSCs. Human donor-derived MSCs are sourced from human bone marrow, adipose tissue, placenta, umbilical tissue, etc. and have significant challenges (e.g., variable donor and tissue sources, limited supply, low potency, inefficient and expensive manufacturing). iMSCs overcome these challenges because they:\nAre more potent and secrete exponentially higher levels of immunomodulatory proteins; Have practically unlimited supply for high doses and repeat doses; Are from a single donor and clonal so they are economically produced at scale with consistent quality and potency, as well as being footprint free (compared to viral reprogramming methods); and, Have significantly h...