NEW YORK – Orgenesis on Monday said it has partnered with Savicell Diagnostics to improve its cell and gene therapies and identify patients who will respond to these therapeutics.
Within the collaboration, Haifa, Israel-based Savicell will use its immunometabolism platform, dubbed ImmunoBiopsy, to develop assays that enhance Orgenesis' cell and gene therapy processing and manufacturing as well as the potency of the treatments within Orgenesis' point-of-care cell therapy platform. Additionally, Orgenesis will use Savicell's ImmunoBiopsy to develop companion diagnostics to home in on the population of patients most likely to benefit from its cell and gene therapies.
Under the terms of the partnership, Orgenesis — including the hospitals, clinics, and institutions within its point-of-care network — will obtain exclusive, global rights to commercialize and use the Savicell diagnostic kits. Initially, the Savicell products will be used to improve the quality and potency of autologous cell therapies for lung cancer, but the firms ultimately plan to expand into other cancer types and disease areas.
According to Orgenesis and Savicell, the ImmunoBiopsy platform, which uses metabolic activity profiles to detect cancer and diseases, has been validated as a diagnostic tool in lung cancer with 91 percent sensitivity. The basis of the technology involves exposing T cells to disease-specific synthetic peptides in vitro and then measuring glycolysis within these cells.
"We believe this platform could be a powerful add-on to our therapies for ensuring the highest level of quality control during cell production, as well as measuring the efficacy of various approaches and enhancing manufacturing strategies in advance of clinical trials," Orgenesis CEO Vered Caplan said in a statement. "We also look forward to developing companion diagnostics to identify those patients most likely to respond to appropriate therapies, which has been a major focus of FDA and payors."