SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2019 / Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc., a clinical‐stage biotechnology company at the forefront of oncolytic virus-based immunotherapies for cancer announced today, the completion of the adipose tissue collection from healthy donors necessary for isolation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) – carriers and potentiators of oncolytic viruses. Calidi is now initiating, at VetStem BioPharma, a veterinary and human regenerative medicine company in San Diego, the GMP manufacturing of these cells as a key component for the company’s allogeneic off-the-shelf product composed of AD-MSC and loaded with oncolytic viruses.
Calidi Biotherapeutics has completed extensive research in this field. This research led to the development of the AD-MSC based platform technology which incorporates three important elements: (i) The ability to protect oncolytic viruses from complement inactivation and innate immune cell inactivation; (ii) The ability to support oncolytic viral amplification in the AD-MSC, and (iii) The ability to modify tumor microenvironment by inducing transient immune suppression to allow effective tumor cell targeting and viral amplification at the tumor site for an extended period of time.
“No one in the industry has a GMP cell manufacturing facility along with the extensive experience, and proven capabilities to manufacture AD-MSC cells like VetStem,” said Boris Minev, MD, President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Calidi Biotherapeutics. “VetStem is a leader in veterinary stem cell manufacturing with significant clinical, regulatory and GMP manufacturing experience. Recently, VetStem received FDA approval of their IND application for stem cell therapy in patients with osteoarthritis.”
“We are extremely pleased to be partnering with a pioneer in stem cell therapy,” said Allan Camaisa, CEO of Calidi Biotherapeutics. “VetStem Biopharma has a world-class GMP manufacturing facility, inspected by the FDA and licensed by the California Department of Public Health for human drug manufacturing.”
About Calidi Biotherapeutics
Calidi Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company with proprietary technology that overcomes the challenges to the effective delivery of oncolytic viruses. Calidi Biotherapeutics is advancing its cell-based oncolytic virus delivery platform in Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for the treatment of several solid tumor types, based on previous guidance the company has received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Calidi Therapeutics scientific, clinical and regulatory expert advisors. Calidi Biotherapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit www.calidibio.com.
