Wugen Announces Exclusive Partnership with Centauri Therapeutics in Asia for Cell Therapy Cancer Treatments

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, March 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wugen, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel universal natural killer (NK) and T-cell therapies for cancer, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Alpha Biopharma to manufacture, develop, and commercialize its allogeneic cell products in Asia (Mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, Taiwan, and Singapore). The products covered under the agreement leverage Wugen’s proprietary technology to produce universal memory NK cells and CAR-T cells for the treatment of solid tumors, T-cell malignancies, acute myeloid leukemia, and multiple myeloma.

Dr. John McKearn, CEO of Wugen, stated, “We look forward to collaborating with the experienced team at Alpha Biopharma, which is dedicated to the clinical development of innovative drugs in China. This agreement represents a significant milestone in Wugen’s clinical progress, enabling us to expand our novel cell therapy portfolio into areas with substantial unmet needs and accelerate the global approval of our clinical programs.”

“This collaboration will generate significant synergies in clinical development and future commercialization. We will bring Wugen’s leading next-generation cell therapies to China to address the substantial unmet clinical needs in the fight against cancer.””Zhang Yong, CEO of Alpha Biopharma, said, “We will leverage our strengths to accelerate the clinical development, manufacturing, and registration of new drugs in China, as well as their post-approval commercialization.”

Pursuant to the agreement, Alpha Biopharma will be responsible for the development and commercialization of the new product in the designated territory, including manufacturing, clinical trials, regulatory registration, market development, and sales activities. Alpha Biopharma and Wugen will share equally in the profits and losses associated with the product’s development and commercialization in the territory, and will share data to support regulatory approvals of the new product both in the territory and globally.

Currently approved cell therapies have proven effective in treating B-cell malignancies, but there remains a significant unmet need for the treatment of other cancers. Wugen is leveraging its proprietary platform to manufacture off-the-shelf memory NK and CAR-T therapies. Compared with current autologous infusion therapies, these novel products offer numerous advantages, including robust manufacturing processes, lower production costs, and enhanced safety profiles.