Eterna Therapeutics Announces Initiation of Development Activities for Hypoimmune Pluripotent Cell Line for Neurology Indications Under Partnership With Lineage Cell Therapeutics - Seite 2

Eterna’s next-generation mRNA gene-editing approach is designed to efficiently inactivate target genes and to replace viral methods for insertion of genes of interest into target cells for long-lasting expression of transgenes. Since announcing the deal earlier this year, Lineage has evaluated its development strategy with a group of leading neurology experts in the U.S. and abroad. As a result of these and other discussions, and an assessment of the competitive landscape, Lineage finalized its selection of specific gene edits for the initial cell lines to be developed by Eterna and made an initial payment to Eterna under the Agreement. It is anticipated that these edits would expand the edited cell lines’ overall utility, including for non-immune privileged or non-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched indications and will further differentiate the cell line from others currently in use by competitors. The novel hypoimmune iPSC line to be developed under the Agreement will include the following three edits:

• Targeted deletion of the B2M gene, designed to reduce the immunogenicity of product candidates derived from the lines by inhibiting rejection by CD8+ T cells
• Targeted insertion of the HLA-E gene, designed to overexpress HLA-E and prevent the allogeneic NK cell response
• A third undisclosed edit intended to confer clinical differentiation and a competitive advantage in the applicable indications
  

Under the Agreement, Eterna plans to conduct certain gene-editing activities and provide materials to Lineage for evaluation. Lineage will make milestone payments to Eterna and in connection with Eterna’s successful delivery to Lineage of certain materials. Lineage also has an option to obtain an exclusive license to utilize and sublicense the novel gene-edited cell lines developed by Eterna for preclinical, clinical, and commercial purposes in developing potential treatments for CNS diseases.

About Eterna Therapeutics Inc.
Eterna Therapeutics is a life science company committed to realizing the potential of mRNA cell engineering to provide patients with transformational new medicines. Eterna has in-licensed a portfolio of over 130 patents covering key mRNA cell engineering technologies, including technologies for mRNA cell reprogramming, mRNA gene editing, the NoveSlice and UltraSlice gene-editing proteins, and the ToRNAdo mRNA delivery system from Factor Bioscience. NoveSlice, UltraSlice, and ToRNAdo are trademarks of Factor Bioscience. For more information, please visit www.eternatx.com.