For Commercialization of Immuno-cell Treatments
Boryung Pharmaceutical and Vigencell announced on Sept. 8 that they have signed an R&D agreement to develop immunocyte therapy. The agreement will pave the way for the two companies to cooperate in development and commercialization of diverse immune-cell treatments.
The agreement will help Vigencell accelerate commercialization of its three immuno-cell therapy platform technologies — ViTier, ViMedier, and ViRanger. It will help Vigencell speed up development of new products based on its platform technologies and, after product development, set up production facilities and bring the products to global markets.
Boryung Pharmaceutical brings its experience in commercializing Kanarb, a new drug for hypertension, to development of new drugs with Vigencell. The agreement will allow Boryung to ramp up sales by expanding its anti-cancer drug pipeline and portfolio.
Vigencell's platform technologies are ViTier, ViMedier, and ViRanger. ViTier is a customized T-cell therapy using antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). It is an effective and safe tumor killing T-cell therapy platform technology optimized for target antigens and patients. ViMedier is a general-purpose immunity control cell therapy. It uses Vigencell’s unique technique to proliferate and induce myeloid inhibitory cells from CD34 benign stem cells that are derived rom cord blood. ViRanger is a high-functional general-purpose cell-genetic complex therapy platform technology that can accommodate various genes.
Using its ViTier platform technology, Vigencell is carrying out phase two clinical trials in Korea for cell therapy drugs that can directly attack and remove NK/T cell non-hodgkin lymphoma which is Epstein-barr virus (EBV)-positive.
Vigencell has also submitted an investigational new drug (IND) application for VT-Tri-A, a treatment pipeline with the ability to directly attack/remove acute myelogenous leukemia. At the same time, the company is developing a unique cell therapy titled “VT-Tri-II” for cytomegalovirus (CMV) and common tumor antigen with government support to treat glioblastoma multiforme patients. Within this year, the company will submit an investigational new drug (IND) application for VT-Tri-II.