Business
Eterna Therapeutics Acquires Allogeneic Immuno-Oncology Platform from Exacis Biotherapeutics
Acquisition includes Exacis’ entire pipeline of engineered cell therapy programs for hematologic and solid tumors CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 02, 2023 (GLOBE
About this update from Ernexa Therapeutics Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Acquisition includes Exacis’ entire pipeline of engineered cell therapy programs for hematologic and solid tumors CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eterna Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ERNA) (“Eterna” or the “Company”), a life science company committed to realizing the potential of mRNA cell engineering to provide patients with transformational new medicines, today announced the acquisition of the global immuno-oncology platform of Exacis Biotherapeutics (“Exacis”). The acquisition complements Eterna’s core business with a pipeline of allogeneic immuno-oncology products under development for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumors and provides Eterna with an exclusive global license to produce an unlimited number of mRNA-engineered natural killer (NK) and T-cell therapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). “We are excited to bring this powerful platform into Eterna. With Exacis’ pipeline of engineered iPSC-derived cell therapy candidates, we believe Eterna is well-positioned to develop more effective, targeted and highly differentiated medicines to treat cancer,” said Matt Angel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Eterna. “We believe that combining the Exacis and Eterna technologies de-risks our approach and supports a capital-efficient path to develop highly competitive cancer therapeutics.” Gregory Fiore, M.D., President and CEO of Exacis, and member of Eterna’s Board of Directors, commented, “Exacis was started with the goals of improving patient outcomes and experiences as well as increasing access to life-saving treatments. Today’s announcement marks a key milestone on the path to achieving these goals. The Eterna Board and leadership are committed to and have been working toward these same goals, and we believe that this acquisition provides Eterna with the tools required to develop next-generation therapies targeting indications of high unmet need, including blood cancers and solid tumors.” The technology underlying Exacis’ platform uses mRNA cell reprogramming and mRNA gene editing to create engineered iPSC-derived cells for use in the development of cancer therapies that can target nearly any cancer antigen. In contrast to DNA-based reprogramming and gene editing, the mRNA-based approach does not expose cells to expensive and potentially harmful viruses or DNA vectors. ...