Immusoft Acquires Exclusive, Worldwide Rights to Intellectual Property for Genome Edited Primary B Cells from the University of Minnesota

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Immusoft a clinical-stage cell therapy company dedicated to improving the lives of patients with rare diseases, today announced that it has successfully closed a license with the Regents of the University of Minnesota for the exclusive, worldwide rights to intellectual property (IP) for compositions of matter and methods to make and use genome edited primary B cells. The parent patent application is titled, “Genome Edited Primary B cell and Methods of Making and Using.”

The IP includes proprietary methods that cover delivery of a targeted nuclease into the B cell for precise genome engineering and the resultant compositions of matter. This represents early art in genome editing of primary B cells.

B cells offer novel opportunities for gene therapy because of their ability to secrete large amounts of protein and persist for decades as plasma cells after engraftment in the bone marrow. Immusoft’s novel B cell platform was designed to circumvent immunogenicity associated with virus-delivered gene therapy and chemotherapy preconditioning associated with stem cell-mediated gene therapy, while enabling durable therapeutic delivery and the possibility to re-dose. This platform has the potential to be used for rare diseases and other larger therapeutic indications modifiable with protein therapeutics.

Immusoft has pioneered the engineering of B cells to create biofactories for in vivo therapeutic protein delivery, leading the field with over 60 issued and pending patents. The Company’s open IND for its lead program in MPS I is the first engineered B cell to enter human clinical trials.

“We are thrilled to exclusively license this IP, which brings tremendous new opportunities to our platform,” said Sean Ainsworth, CEO, Immusoft. “This capability significantly broadens our technology platform, strengthens our intellectual property portfolio, further cements our leadership in the B cell space, and may provide the basis for the development of several additional novel B cell therapies.”

“This is highly valuable technology that Immusoft has added to their platform,” said Hans-Peter Kiem, Stephanus Family Endowed Chair for Cell and Gene Therapy at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Scientific Advisor to Immusoft, “Genome-editing of primary B cells is becoming increasingly important in this space. It’s exciting to be a scientific advisor to Immusoft, the leader in engineered B cells.”

About Immusoft

Immusoft is a clinical-stage cell therapy company focused on developing novel therapies for rare diseases using a sustained delivery of protein therapeutics from a patient’s own cells. The company has developed a technology platform called Immune System Programming (ISP™), which modifies a patient’s B cells and instructs the cells to produce gene-encoded medicines. The B cells that are reprogrammed using ISP become miniature drug factories that are expected to persist for many years. The company is based in Seattle, WA. For more information, visit www.immusoft.com.

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