Imperial Innovations celebrates Cell Medica collaboration

Imperial Innovations celebrated success at one of its investee companies on Friday, noting the announcement from Cell Medica of an exclusive licensing agreement and co-development partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine to create next-generation cellular immunotherapy products for the treatment of cancer.

The AIM-traded firm said Cell Medica is a cellular immunotherapy company, focused on the development, manufacture and marketing of cell-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancers and infectious disease.

As at 31 January, Imperial had a 27% interest in Cell Medica - a net fair value of £21m.

Imperial’s board said the new collaboration is expected to generate a significant number of new products for Cell Medica's cellular immunotherapy pipeline.

It added that it provides the company with an exclusive license over several Baylor cell and gene technologies and an option to license new products introduced into the co-development partnership by Baylor's leading research teams in the field of genetically engineered immune cells.

“This collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine will place Cell Medica at the forefront of new product concepts for CAR-modified immune cells,” said Cell Medica CEO Gregg Sands.

“Baylor's leading research capability in this field should add significantly to our pipeline of high value products targeting cancer types that do not respond to conventional treatments.”

Russ Cummings, CEO at Imperial Innovation, said the new agreement accelerates Cell Medica’s ambitious growth plans and broadens its cellular immunotherapy pipeline and US footprint.

“It is an important step forward in its strategy to become a world-leader in cell therapy, leveraging its scientific and manufacturing base,” he said.

“To date Cell Medica has raised more than £72m.

“With the on-going support of a strong group of investors, the business is ideally positioned to capitalise on the market opportunity for next-generation products which harness the human immune response to fight cancer,” Cummings explained.