INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Celularity, the venture-backed developer of novel cell therapies for cancer treatments, has received an initial clearance from the Food and
Drug Administration to begin early-stage clinical trials on a potential treatment for COVID-19.The company, which has raised at least $290
response.For Celularity, those NK cells are derived from stem cells cultivated from placental tissue, which hospitals typically treat as
medical waste.Backed by the venture investment firm Section 32, and strategic investors including Celgene, now a division of Bristol Myers;
United Therapeutics, a biomedical technology developer; Human Longevity, the troubled venture-backed startup founded by J
Craig Venter; and Sorrento Therapeutics, a publicly traded biomedical company, Celularity was pursuing a number of applications of the novel
cell therapy, but its initial focus was on cancer treatments.The real breakthrough for the company, and one of the reasons it has attracted
clearance, Celularity is going to begin a small, 86-person trial to test the efficacy of its CYNK-001 immunotherapy to treat COVID-19
infected adults, the company said.There are at least two studies underway in China that are also testing whether Natural Killer cells can be
Unlike t-cells, which target particular pathogens, NK cells typically work to support the immune system by identifying and destroying cells
in the body that appear to be stressed, either from an infection or a mutation.The therapy seems to be successful in treating certain types
which causes COVID-19 to spread throughout the body.However, there are some potential roadblocks and risks to pursuing the NK therapy
Chiefly, COVID-19 is deadly in part because it can push the immune system into overdrive
scientific officer, Xiaokui Zhang, in a statement
