Genexine and SCM Life Science Corporation Coimune, a U.S. corporation, approved by the U.S. FDA for a phase 2b clinical trial vaccine for metastatic renal carcinoma dendritic cells.
CoImune, Inc., a U.S. joint venture between SCM Life Science Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Byung-gun) and Genexine Co., Ltd. (CEO Sung Young-chul), will acquire and merge Italian new drug development company Formula Pharmaceuticals Co. to integrate and strengthen the immuno-cancer drug platform.
CoImune will expand its major pipelines to △ progressive kidney cancer treatment "CMN-001" and △ acute lymphocytic leukemia treatment "CAR-CIK" by securing authority over all types and intangible assets of Formula through the merger.
Cytokine-Induced Killer Cell (CAR-CIK) is a next-generation treatment that uses cord blood of healthy people, not patients, and does not use viruses, to overcome commercial limitations such as expensive and side effects of current CAR-T treatments.
In this merger and acquisition, existing investors of Formula will invest $6 million in Koimun for CAR-CIK's clinical development in the U.S., Addition, CoImune will also attract Series A investment in Europe and the U.S.
"We decided that Formula has high technology and a solid investment base in the field of leukemia treatment," said Charles Nicolette, CEO of Coimune. "We are happy to provide an opportunity to maximize Coimune's corporate value by integrating the two companies' immune anticancer treatment platforms through this acquisition and merger." He then stressed, "We plan to focus on clinical trials so that the treatments under development can be approved by the U.S. FDA as soon as possible by utilizing the synergy between the two companies."
SCM Life Science and Genexine are also considering obtaining domestic permits by promoting domestic clinical trials of these two products.
Coimune is currently planning to conduct
phase 2b clinical trials for progressive kidney cancer treatment CMN-001 at
five hospitals in the United States, including MD Anderson Hospital. For
clinical trials in the United States of CAR-CIK, the University of
Milan-Bicocca and San Gerardo Hospital in Italy will continue to conduct
research necessary for the development of next-generation CAR-CIK. For this
study, Dr. Andrea Biondi, a developer of CAR-CIK, was appointed as a clinical
advisor to Coimune