Lisata Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:LSTA) has announced a collaboration and license agreement with Kuva Labs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mi2 Holdings.
The clinical-stage pharmaceutical firm said the agreement will give Kuva access to Lisata's iRGD cyclic peptide, certepetide, as a targeting and delivery agent for their NanoMark platform to create a new class of advanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging agents for the detection of solid tumor cancers.
Kuva will be responsible for research, development, and commercialization costs for the NanoMark platform, while Lisata will provide the certepetide product.
The agreement includes an upfront license fee, along with potential milestone payments and royalties from future product sales to Lisata.
“This license agreement exemplifies certepetide’s broad versatility, extending its application beyond our current focus on solid tumor treatments and into the realm of cancer diagnosis,” Lisata chief medical officer Dr Kristen Buck commented.
“Leveraging certepetide, NanoMark should enable solid tumors to be detected with more diagnostic accuracy, leading to earlier treatment and improved patient outcomes.”
Dr Andrew Hopkins, Kuva Labs’ chief scientific officer, highlighted the vital role medical imaging plays in fighting cancer but noted the limitations of current methods in achieving a rapid and definitie diagnosis.
“We are excited about our partnership with Lisata. The ability to selectively activate tumor cells enables NanoMark technology to directly MR image just the tumor and will transform the manner in which we see cancer,” Hopkins said.
“NanoMark will provide the first targeted, non-radioactive imaging option with unparalleled contrast resolution, significantly advancing the early detection and diagnosis of solid tumors.”