AgeX Therapeutics and Sernova to Collaborate to Engineer Universal Locally Immune Protected Cell Therapies for Type I Diabetes and Hemophilia A

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (“AgeX”: NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, and Sernova Corp. (TSX-V:SVA)(OTCQB:SEOVF)(FSE:PSH), a clinical-stage regenerative medicine therapeutics company, announced today a research collaboration where Sernova will utilize AgeX’s UniverCyte^TM gene technology to generate immune-protected universal therapeutic cells for use in combination with Sernova’s Cell Pouch^TM for the treatment of type I diabetes and hemophilia A. The goal is to eliminate the need for immunosuppressive medications following Cell Pouch cell transplantation.

The research collaboration will evaluate whether Sernova’s pluripotent stem cell-derived pancreatic islet beta cells engineered with AgeX’s UniverCyte technology can evade human immune detection. The complementary combination of technologies could enable the transplantation of therapeutic cells in patients with type I diabetes in an off-the-shelf manner using Sernova’s Cell Pouch, without human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue matching or concurrent administration of immunosuppressive medications. With a similar intent, pluripotent stem cell-derived or adult donor-derived human Factor VIII-releasing cells modified with AgeX’s UniverCyte will be evaluated in Sernova’s hemophilia A program.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sernova has been granted a time-limited, non-exclusive research license by AgeX. A commercial license for Sernova to utilize UniverCyte to engineer cellular products for therapeutic and commercial purposes may be negotiated between the companies pending successful study outcomes.

The UniverCyte technology aims to mask therapeutic cells derived from pluripotent stem cells or adult donors from human immune detection to allow for off-the-shelf cellular products without the need for immunosuppressant medications which may have potent side effects, or HLA-matching between donor and patient. UniverCyte uses a novel, modified form of HLA-G, a potent immunomodulatory molecule, which in nature protects an unborn child from their mother’s immune system. In almost all human cells, native HLA-G expression is silenced after birth. AgeX’s modified HLA-G shows evidence of being resistant to this silencing, thereby potentially allowing for long-term, stable and high expression of the immunomodulatory effect.