Thyas Co. Ltd. ("Thyas"; Kyoto, Japan; Representative Directors, Yasumichi Hitoshi and Ryosuke Gonotsubo) has announced it concluded a joint research agreement and a license agreement for an exclusive use of data and patents of clinical manufacturing methods of iPSC-derived CAR-transduced natural killer cells ("iCAR-NK") with the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University ("CiRA"; Kyoto, Japan; Director: Jun Takahashi), The CiRA Foundation ("CiRA_F"; Kyoto, Japan; Representative Director: Shinya Yamanaka), Kirin Holdings Company, Limited ("Kirin Holdings"; Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Yoshinori Isozaki).


The details of the agreements are as shown below:

Contracts	Contents	Contract Parties
Joint Research Agreements	Thyas to support clinical manufacturing of iCAR-NK	CiRA, CiRA_F, Thyas
Patent License Agreement	CiRA and Kirin Holdings to license Thyas an Exclusive use of patents and data related to the clinical manufacturing methods of iCAR-NK	CiRA, Thyas
Research Data License Agreement		CiRA, Kirin Holdings, Thyas

Under the agreements, Thyas participates in the manufacturing of iCAR-NK for the Phase I clinical trial (the "Clinical Trial"; investigator-initiated clinical trial) of the product. Thyas obtains an exclusive license of the patents related to the manufacturing methods of iCAR-NK from Kyoto University and the manufacturing data and documents from Kyoto University and Kirin Holdings.

About The Clinical Trial and AMED's "Innovative Cancer Research Project

Funded by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development ("AMED") (The project is called "Innovative Cancer Therapy Research Project for Practical Use"), the Clinical Trial is being conducted by Professor Shin Kaneko's group at CiRA and the National Cancer Center Hospital East. In the Clinical Trial, patients with inoperable advanced recurrent ovarian clear cell carcinoma that expresses glypican-3 (GPC3; a protein only certain tumors specifically express) are treated with GPC3-specific iCAR-NK. The endpoints of the Clinical Trial is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of the iCAR-NK. The first patient is dosed in Fall 2021.

Inquirie

For research and media inquiries

The CiRA Foundation
Public Relations Group
TEL：＋81-80-2359-8495
E-mail：contact*cira-foundation.or.jp
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