PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medgenics, Inc. (NYSE:MDGN), today announced the signing of a license with Stanford University providing exclusive rights to certain breakthrough gene therapy technologies developed in the labs of Professor Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D., Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics, Professor of Genetics, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Under the license, Medgenics gains the exclusive right for the autologous ex vivo use of Stanford’s GeneRide novel promoter-less gene therapy technology in combination with Medgenics’ proprietary TARGTTM technology. Medgenics also receives the exclusive right to use this technology for the delivery of hematopoietic stem cells for sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia.
“We are excited to gain access to the GeneRide technology, combining the benefits of AAV vector gene transfer with the potential for permanent delivery of therapeutic proteins and peptides,” said Garry Neil, MD, Chief Scientific Officer of Medgenics. “Most importantly, this system is designed to allow efficient and predictable integration into precisely defined sites, using naturally occurring promoters.”
“By avoiding off-target integration the GeneRide system could provide a comparably safer approach than other competing gene therapies,” said Mike Cola, Medgenics CEO. “The additional capabilities afforded by the Stanford technology puts us in a position to be a leader in ex vivo gene therapy.”
About Medgenics, Inc.
Medgenics is dedicated to unlocking the potential of genomic medicine to identify and treat patients with life-altering conditions. Its efforts, including its internal research and development and ongoing sponsored research and licensing agreements with a well-respected pediatric academic medical center, give Medgenics the ability to focus on the underlying genetic pathway of pediatric diseases with the goal of finding therapeutic solutions for subpopulations of both children and adults living with rare and other difficult-to-treat diseases. Medgenics is the developer of TARGTTM (Transduced Autologous Restorative Gene Therapy), a proprietary platform for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies and peptides in patients using ex vivo gene therapy and their own tissue for the treatment of rare and orphan diseases. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.medgenics.com.