Sernova Corp, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing a ‘functional cure’ for type 1 diabetes and other chronic diseases, announced today it has entered into an exclusive, worldwide license with the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Florida, for the commercial rights to novel conformal coating immune protection technologies. The technologies were developed by Dr. Alice Tomei, Dr. Jeffrey Hubbell, and Aaron Stock (Graduate Student). Dr. Tomei is a leading international expert in immunoprotection and diabetes immunoengineering, of the renowned Diabetes Research Institute (DRI), a designated Center of Excellence at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Hubbell is the Eugene Bell Professor of Tissue Engineering at the University of Chicago and leading international researcher in immunoengineering.
This exclusive worldwide license agreement is important to Sernova because it broadens the technology scope of Sernova’s immune protection conformal coating technologies and related intellectual property. Furthermore, it adds to a series of recent strategic acquisitions and collaborations for the Company and builds on our goal of protecting Sernova’s therapeutic cells or tissues transplanted into Sernova’s Cell Pouch(TM) from a detrimental auto-immune system response while eliminating the need for immunosuppressive drugs in treated patients.
Sernova is further advancing development of its novel Cell Pouch System(TM) as a therapeutic platform to provide cell therapy solutions to patients with chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, without the current need for life-long immunosuppressive drugs. We believe, with the addition of local immune protection, our breakthrough technologies will have the potential to significantly expand access to and the availability of therapeutic solutions to millions of people as a ‘functional cure’ for the chronic diseases from which they are suffering.
As we continue to advance our first-in-class technologies, we have diligently selected complementary technologies developed by recognized experts in the field such as those by Dr. Tomei and colleagues to add to our Cell Pouch(TM) platform. With the continued expansion of our regenerative medicine therapeutics platform, we are positioning the Company at the forefront in the development of safe, functional regenerative medicine therapeutics.
Following my postdoctoral training in Dr. Hubbell’s laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, I joined the University of Miami where I have focussed my academic career in the pursuit and development of novel cellular immune protection technologies to advance the field of cell therapy. With Sernova’s goal of a ‘functional cure’ for diabetes, supported by its positive preclinical and more recent, emerging clinical safety and efficacy data from the University Chicago clinical trial, I am excited to contribute to the addition of local immune protection technologies provided by conformal coatings as the next important step towards this ultimate goal.