Benzinga | Aug 10, 2020 07:03AM EDT

Cord Blood Registry By Generate Life Sciences Partners With NantKwest To Develop COVID-19 Treatment

LOS ANGELES, and EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Aug. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --CBR(r) by Generate Life Sciences, the world's largest private newborn stem cell bank, and NantKwest (NASDAQ:NK), a clinical-stage, natural killer cell-based immunotherapy company, today announced a collaboration to develop a COVID-19 treatment leveraging newborn stem cells. CBR will provide research-donated umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to NantKwest for efficient and robust expansion utilizing their proprietary modular, closed bioreactor system from NantKwest affiliate ImmunityBio, Inc.

Anticipating the emerging relevance of regenerative medicine, CBR was the first private stem cell bank to offer families the option of umbilical cord tissue cryopreservation and has developed a novel method to efficiently create a pure MSC cellular product from cryopreserved tissue suitable for on-demand manufacturing. This collaboration leverages CBR's incomparablesize and industry leadership with NantKwest's unique capability to rapidly scale the manufacture of a high-quality cellular therapy product, a particularly valuable asset given the emergent need for these biological resources in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.

NantKwest recently announced FDA authorization of its investigational new drug (IND) application utilizing allogeneic bone marrow (BM) derived MSCs and has initiated a Phase 1b trial to mitigate the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) resulting from severe COVID-19. Anticipating ever-increasing demand for these powerful cellular therapy products, the alliance with CBR will enable NantKwest to fast-follow their BM-based IND with an umbilical cord derived product, which is anticipated to expand the scope and impact of their series of planned clinical trials.

"As NantKwest's pipeline of cellular therapy products all harness the power of the immune system to treat disease, we immediately recognized the opportunity to use MSC-derived treatments to address the inflammatory manifestations of COVID-19," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NantKwest. "Our ability to rapidly scale the manufacture of MSCs will be further supported through our combined efforts with CBR thanks to their ability to provide this high-quality biological resource."

"Advancing the scientific applications of newborn stem cells has always been central to CBR's mission. We've demonstrated the capacity for our cryopreserved UC-MSCs to retain their important anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating qualities," said Jaime Shamonki, MD, Generate's Chief Medical Officer. "Realizing the particular relevance of these qualities to COVID-19 complications, we are very excited to work with NantKwest and anticipate the umbilical cord derived cellular product will help mitigate some of the acute and long-term inflammatory consequences from this disease."