Cellusion and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings enter Capital and Business Alliance of CLS001 for Corneal Endothelial Cell Regenerative Therapy
Tokyo (March 23rd, 2022)-, Cellusion Inc. a regenerative medicine startup aiming to solve the global Corneal transplant waiting list problem with a unique differentiation induction method from iPS cells to Corneal Endothelial Cell Substitute from iPS Cells (CECSi Cells) for bullous keratopathy novel treatment (PJ code: CLS001), today announced enter Capital and Business Alliance with Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd. (Toyo Seikan), a Japanese multinational conglomerate packaging materials manufacturer developing “WellBag”, a novel Spheroid formation bag under the closed system.
[Objectives and Prospects of the Capital and Business Alliance]
Cellusion is developing CLS001 for the treatment of bullous keratopathy. Cellusion has been currently preparing prepare for the company-sponsored phase 1/2 clinical trials of CLS001 in Japan and overseas and building its supply chain. Cellusion is pleased to welcome Toyo Seikan Group joining as one of the shareholders in the Series B financing closed in December 2021.
As part of the Toyo Seikan’s open innovation project named “OPEN UP! PROJECT”, Cellusion has discovered that CLS001 can be used to form spheroids safely and uniformly by using the “WellBag,” the world’s first bag for spheroid formation in a closed system developed by the Toyo Seikan Group. Cellusion and Toyo Seikan will continue to work together to solve manufacturing issues for CLS001 clinical study as well as commercial production. Cellusion will enhance to its efforts to deliver CLS001 for bullous keratopathy patients all over the world through the alliance with Toyo Seikan.
[About Toyo Seikan’s “OPEN UP! PROJECT”]
Toyo Seikan Group’s “OPEN UP! PROJECT” addresses issues as they change with the times to “open up” the future with innovation. Toyo Seikan will utilize their core technologies, cultivated in the container technology and know-how over 100 years of company history, to resolve the issues that burden individuals and the community.
The project has so far included the joint development of “Salt-off Cup”, an innovative package for Tofu, with Oishii Kenko, which provides services for disease prevention and management, dieting, and investment in Shiok Meats, a Singapore-based food tech startup aiming to solve the social issues of food and protein crisis, climate change, and marine pollution in Asia through the production of clean shrimp and crustacean cell cultivation.
OPEN UP! PROJECT https://en.open-up.tskg-hd.com/
[About CLS001]
In spite of the factthat more than 13 million waiting patients for potential blinding diseases such as Bullous Keratopathy, which can only be prevented by corneal transplantation, only about 180,000 corneal transplants are performed annually worldwide. The reason for such a large medical supply-demand gap generated is because current treatments require donor corneas, skilled corneal transplant ophthalmologists, and Eye Banks.
Cellusion is developing CLS001, CECSi cells for Corneal Endothelial regeneration to cure Bullous Keratopathy which is applied more than half of all cases of corneal transplantation. CLS001 is expected to replace the current supply limitations by combining “CECSi Cells made from iPS cells with excellent proliferative properties ‘and’ a simple injection cell delivery procedure without needs of human expertise.”
The initiation approval of the CLS001 first in human investigator-initiated clinical study has already been obtained from the Keio University Specially Certified Committee for Regenerative Medicine as well as the Health Sciences Council of MHLW, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan in July 2021. Keio University and Cellusion are scheduled to start the study at Keio University Hospital as soon as it is ready.
[About Cellusion Inc.]
Cellusion is a regenerative medicine startup born from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine in 2015. Cellusion aims to contribute to the improvement of health and well-being around the world by solving unmet medical needs in medicine with its cutting-edge cell therapy technologies, including a unique differentiation induction method from iPS cells to CECSi Cells. Cellusion’s mission is to a community the clear vision of the future with cellular technology breakthrough.
Company: Cellusion Inc.
CEO: Shin Hatou, M.D., Ph.D.
Headquarters: 1-13-7 Nihombashi-Muromachi, Chuo, Tokyo 103-0022, JAPAN
Founded: January 2015
URL: https://cellusion.jp/en/
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