Sorrento and KI researchers enter a collaborative agreement on iPSC-Derived Dimeric Antigen Receptor-Modified Natural Killer Cells
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. announced their entry into an additional collaborative agreement with research groups at Karolinska Institutet, aimed at producing novel cell-based therapeutics using NK cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (“iPSCs”). Sorrento and KI are collaborative partners in NextGenNK.
Under the agreement, Sorrento will provide know-how in the core chimeric antigen receptor (“CAR”) and dimeric antigen receptor (“DAR”) technologies and support the collaborative effort to develop new CAR-NK and DAR-NK candidates, as well as fund the translational validation of the technologies.
“It is a privilege to continue and extend our collaborative work with the distinguished KI faculty. We are proud to contribute our technologies to produce new optimized off-the-shelf adoptive NK cell immunotherapies," said Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento. "Our partnership with KI combines our know-how with the expertise of a world-renowned institution in the field of NK cell therapy. These types of partnerships are essential in advancing medicine and bringing new solutions to cancer patients in need.”
“The present collaboration brings together key competence from Sorrento and KI in an important area of cancer immunotherapy research. Sorrento’s intellectual contribution to the research at the Competence Center is a critical piece in enabling retargeted off-the-shelf NK cell products,” said Evren Alici, Principal Investigator at KI.
KI scientists within NextGenNK will establish iPSC-derived NK-based therapeutic candidates utilizing Sorrento’s constructs and DAR technology. Work within KI has contributed to the development of methodologies that consistently generate robust and potent NK cell lineages following iPSC differentiation. Clinical trials of NK cell-based therapies for treatment of multiple myeloma led by researchers at KI have yielded promising preliminary results with long-lasting remissions. In a very cross-knit collaboration between Sorrento and KI, the team will aim to establish novel allogeneic, off-theshelf, retargeted NK cell-based therapies.
“This is an important step in further enabling academic and industrial partnerships in the mission of achieving common goals for advancement of novel cancer immunotherapies,” said Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren, Director of the NextGenNK Competence Center.
This news article is based on a press release from Sorrento Therapeutics, June 4, 2021.