SUDA Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SUD) has entered into a collaborative research agreement (CRA) with Imperial College London and has appointed Professor Karadimitris as chairman of its scientific advisory board (SAB) for the iNKT cell therapy program.
Under the CRA, SUDA will fund ongoing research in the laboratory of Professor Karadimitris, which will focus on creating additional intellectual property for the technology for a period of two years, extendable by mutual agreement.
The initial focus of the platform is for the treatment of blood cancers and the research will enable SUDA to optimise the therapy and to expand into additional cancers of unmet need, creating additional intellectual property for the platform.
“Excited to solidify the partnership”
SUDA managing director and CEO Dr Michael Baker said: “We are excited to solidify the partnership with Imperial College London through a research collaboration – and that Professor Karadimitris is joining us, on an independent basis, as the chair of the SAB.
“We look forward to continuing the research in the laboratory of Professor Karadimitris and to broadening the platform by creating new intellectual property.”
iNKT cell therapy platform
On June 18, SUDA announced it had entered into a licence agreement for the invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cell therapy platform developed in the laboratory of Professor Karadimitris at Imperial College London.
In preclinical studies, the iNKT cell therapy platform outperformed conventional cell therapies at initial clearance of tumour cells and promoting long‐term mouse survival.
Another major feature of the iNKT cell therapy platform is that it will be developed to be used off the shelf, as iNKT cells do not cause common side effects that confine other cell therapies to using a patient’s own cells for their cancer treatment.