Full Press Release Details
Therapeutics Limited Announces Research Collaboration with Singapore Sengkang General Hospital to Advance Injectable Umbilical Cord-Derived
Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Cartilage Diseases and Repair
diversifies into regenerative medicine
March 4, 2024 -- CytoMed Therapeutics Limited (NASDAQ: GDTC) ("CytoMed" or "Company"), a Singapore-based
biopharmaceutical company focused on harnessing its proprietary technologies to develop novel donor-derived cell-based allogeneic therapies
for the treatment of various cancers and aging-related diseases, today announced that it has entered into a Research Collaboration Agreement
("RCA") with Sengkang General Hospital Pte Ltd ("SKH"), a public hospital in Singapore and a member of the SingHealth
group to establish proof-of-concept use of an injectable cartilage regeneration therapy that has been developed with donor-sourced, (allogeneic)
umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells ("UC-MSCs") to treat cartilage injury. This injectable therapy will be implemented
in vivo to support the application and commencement of a proposed Phase 1 clinical trial in Singapore, and is anticipated to complete
use of MSC as a potential treatment for tissue regeneration, inflammatory and regenerative diseases has been the subject of increasing
interest in the global scientific community. Osteoarthritis of the knee is a debilitating disease affecting Singapore's aging population
and the clinical trial will pioneer stem cell use for regenerative medicine in Singapore.
are a type of adult stem cells that can be isolated from the umbilical cord tissue after childbirth. These cells possess unique properties
that have demonstrated to be promising for various therapeutic applications, especially when these cells are freshly harvested and isolated
from the umbilical cord, as compared to MSCs derived from frozen tissues, of which the yield and quality may potentially suffer. UC-MSCs
are considered multipotent and are able to differentiate into different cell types, including bone, cartilage, fat, and muscle cells.
They also exhibit immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties, making them attractive for regenerative medicine and immune-related
collaboration with CytoMed marks a significant step in advancing research on allogeneic in-vivo UC-MSC for cartilage repair, including
osteoarthritis of the knee. Through our commitment to the Investigator Initiated Trial (IIT), we aim to gather crucial safety and efficacy
data and evidence to make this intervention more accessible to patients," said Assistant Professor Francis Wong, Director of Research
unique advantages of UC-MSCs include their abundant supply, compared to cord blood-derived MSCs or adult stem cell sources like bone
marrow-derived MSCs. Freshly harvested UC-MSCs are believed to possess higher proliferation capacity and greater differentiation potential.
Additionally, UC-MSCs have been shown to exhibit lower immunogenicity and are less likely to be rejected by the recipient's immune
system, which opens the possibility for allogeneic (donor-to-recipient) transplantation. Therefore, UC-MSC would serve as an ideal source
of regenerative cells for treating osteoarthritis of the knee. This hypothesis has also been supported by many international published
clinical papers. We are excited to embark on this collaboration, which would potentially be the first stem cell trial in Singapore,"
added Dr Tan Wee Kiat, co-CEO and Chief Operating Officer of CytoMed.
the RCA, CytoMed will provide the allogeneic UC-MSC, processed and expanded in its own state-of-the-art GMP laboratory while SKH will
provide the infrastructure, manpower and scientific data analysis.
is focused on cancer immunotherapies. The RCA has been established within a year of approval of CytoMed's Phase 1 IIT with the
National University Hospital of Singapore, which sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CytoMed's novel allogeneic chimeric
antigen receptor T-cell therapy ("CAR-T"), which is the first home-grown CAR-T therapy in Singapore, for the treatment of
liquid and solid cancers.
more information about the Company's services, latest news, and ongoing initiatives, please visit www.cytomed.sg
CytoMed Therapeutics Limited (CytoMed)
in 2018, CytoMed was spun off from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore's leading research and development
agency in the public sector. It is a biopharmaceutical company focused on harnessing its licensed proprietary technologies, namely gamma
delta T cell and iPSC-derived gamma delta Natural Killer T cell, to create novel cell-based allogeneic immunotherapies for the treatment
of human cancers. The development of novel technologies has been inspired by the clinical success of existing CAR-T therapies in treating
haematological malignancies, as well as the current clinical limitations and commercial challenges in extrapolating the CAR-T principle
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: Ms. Lynne Ng, Legal Consultant