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Vor Publishes POC Study in Scientific Journal
Vor Publishes POC Study in Scientific Journal.
About this update from Puretech Health Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 3911A PureTech Health PLC 29 May 2019 \n\n29 May 2019\n \nPureTech Health plc\n \nPureTech Health Affiliate Vor Biopharma Publishes Proof-of-Concept Study of its Lead Programme in the Scientific Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\n \nPreclinical study supports Vor's approach for overcoming important toxicities encountered by targeted immunotherapies for blood cancers\n \nPaper co-authored by Vor co-founder Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee\n \nPureTech Health plc (LSE:PRTC) (\"PureTech Health\"), an advanced biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines for dysfunctions of the Brain-Immune-Gut (BIG) axis, is pleased to note that its affiliate Vor Biopharma (\"Vor\") today announced the publication of an important paper in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Medicines supporting Vor's novel approach to treating cancer via engineered hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).\n \nVor's approach is designed to address a serious limitation of most targeted immunotherapies: the targets they bind are present on both healthy cells and cancer cells. In the case of haematological cancers, this poor discrimination can result in devastating collateral damage to healthy immune cells and severe toxicities. Vor's lead programme, VOR33, is a novel HSC therapy consisting of donor-derived HSCs that are engineered to lack the cell surface protein CD33. When removed from the cell surface, VOR33 cells do not appear to have any measurable changes to their biological function but are shown to be highly resistant to attack from CD33-targeted immunotherapies. When infused into a patient, the engineered stem cells are designed to mature and differentiate into a full spectrum of healthy immune and blood cells that would be untouched by the cancer treatment. As the preclinical research published today suggests, this approach has the potential to minimize immunotherapy toxicities and maximize the potency of anti-CD33 therapies.\n \nBharatt Chowrira, JD, PhD, president and chief of business and strategy at PureTech Health, said: \"Vor's novel approach is designed to reboot the patient's immune system with an infusion of healthy blood stem cells that are protected from the toxic effects of targeted immunotherapies. This approach has the potential to minimize the toxi...