BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Formula's Italian CAR

Formula enters CAR T cell race with non-viral technology

May 21, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

Formula Pharmaceuticals Inc. has licensed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology from Fondazione Matilde Tettamanti Menotti De Marchi Onlus that it thinks will be safer and more efficient than other CAR T cell approaches because it uses non-viral transfection and is based on allogeneic cytokine-induced killer cells that lower the risk of developing graft-versus-host disease (GvHD).

The approach was developed by Andrea Biondi, chief of pediatrics and hemato-oncology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Fondazione Monza e Brianza per il Bambino e la sua Mamma/San Gerardo Hospital, and scientific director of Fondazione M. Tettamanti. Formula was introduced to Biondi in 2014 while investigating entry into the CAR space, and the licensing deal was announced on May 11...