Promethera Biosciences SA, the world-leading cell therapy and regenerative medicine company targeting liver diseases, and LifeLiver, the Korean leader in the field of treatment of severe liver diseases, today announced a strategic alliance to jointly develop Promethera’s suite of cell-based liver disease therapies in South Korea.
This alliance initially includes:
(a) a licence agreement for HepaStem and H2Stem to develop and commercialize these platforms in Promethera’s main indications in NASH and ACLF in Korea and
(b) a supply agreement to provide Heparesc® for LifeLiver’s proprietary bioartificial liver (BAL) system.
Promethera and LifeLiver will collaborate on the clinical development of Promethera’s and LifeLiver’s product applications. Initially, LifeLiver will combine Promethera’s human mature hepatocytes liver cell suspension, Heparesc®, with its proprietary bioartificial liver (BAL) system for the ex vivo treatment of patients with severe liver diseases such as Acute Liver Failure. The therapeutic goal of this approach would be to “humanize” the BAL bioreactor and to boost supply of hepatocytes. Future directions of this strategic alliance will involve other indications currently clinically investigated by Promethera such as urea cycle disorders and will include the HepaStem and H2Stem technologies.
“This alliance represents a great opportunity for Promethera to shape the global commercialization strategy for our novel cell-based therapeutics. Even more importantly, the partnership offers us a way to benefit from the positive environment for such cutting-edge therapies and regenerative medicine in Korea and to drive the development of our novel platforms in this key market,” said John Tchelingerian, CEO of Promethera Biosciences. “LifeLiver, which also participated strategically in Promethera’s Series C financing extension round, represents the ideal partner to approach the South Korean market early on given their strong position and network in their home market.”
“Combining our bio-artificial liver (BAL) system with Promethera’s current and next-generation human liver-derived cell-based therapies opens up unique future product opportunities to serve patients in Korea in an innovative way. We look forward to combining our expertise with Promethera’s to bring breakthrough cell-based ex vivo and in vivo treatment options to the Korean market,” said Ha Young Kim, CEO at LifeLiver. “Hepatocytes are among the most difficult cells to preserve for a longer time period. For this reason, having a supply agreement in place with Promethera will allow us to humanize and maintain our BAL technology in a ready-to use state for any emergent clinical situation.”
