RE:RE:RE:BioHubConformal coating - Sernova "entered into an exclusive, worldwide licence 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)." This license is with the University of Miami (which DRI and BioHub are a part of) and not Tomei or any of the other developers, of course. Since it is worldwide and exclusive, I cannot see the university being able to sell any additional commercial rights. However, I would think they will continue this research involving Tomei and maybe others. From the article you provided, it also sounds like they are pursuing induced chimerism "I see us restoring self-tolerance and eliminating autoimmunity by inducing chimerism (ongoing collaboration with Cure Alliance's Dr. Suzanne Ildstad from University of Louisville and collaborators).The same technology already has been successful in eliminating immunosuppression -- anti-rejection drugs -- in organ transplantation. That’s been working for more than three years and counting. We believe we can use this when transplanting insulin-producing cells within the BioHub." Perhaps this is their new direction for immunosuppression. Just my thoughts. This is not my area of expertise and you know more of the history here than I do... Sernova expands its IP portfolio, broadens technology scope with new licence agreement
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 licence 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,” said Dr. Philip Toleikis, President and CEO of Sernova Corp.
Dr. Toleikis continued, “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.”
Dr. Alice Tomei, the Director of the Islet Immunoengineering Laboratory at DRI stated, “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.”
By Christine Rathbone