GC Therapeutics, Inc. (GCTx), announced its launch to scale and unlock the next generation of cell therapy. Invented and developed by a world-class team of scientists in the lab of professor George Church, Ph.D., at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute, GCTx’s induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) programming platform, TFome™ (Transcription-Factor-ome, pronounced as tee-eff-ome), integrates the latest advancements in synthetic biology, gene editing, cell engineering and machine learning to overcome the development and scaling complexities associated with cell therapy and improve patient access across a broad range of disease areas. GCTx completed a $65 million Series A financing led by Cormorant Asset Management with participation from Mubadala Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, Medical Excellence Capital, Cercano Management and Pear VC, bringing total capital raised by GCTx to $75 million.
“Cell therapies have revolutionized the treatment of certain disease areas; however, challenges in scaling these therapies and generating high quality products limit their full potential and patient accessibility,” said Parastoo Khoshakhlagh, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of GCTx. “Our novel cell programming approach enables the rapid and efficient production of fully optimized iPSC-based cell therapies through a streamlined, single-step process. This method enhances potency, efficiency, quality and cost-effectiveness compared to conventional approaches. We are excited to launch GCTx to broaden the accessibility of cell therapy and advance our pipeline of potential best-in-class treatments in various therapeutic areas starting with gastrointestinal, neurological and immunological diseases.”
“GCTx’s cell programming platform represents a major scientific advancement,” said George Church, Ph.D., professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, core faculty member and synthetic biology lead at the Wyss Institute, and co-founder and senior advisor of GCTx. “This approach harnesses the transformative potential of transcription factor biology to guide iPSC cell fate into any differentiated cell type in a single, seamless step. By transcending the limitations of natural processes, it holds the promise to create cells that surpass the capabilities of those found in nature, generating a groundbreaking new class of SuperCell™ medicines to address diverse disease areas and reduce healthcare burdens.”
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TFome: The world’s first “plug-and-play” iPSC cellular programming platform
iPSC differentiation into distinct cell types depends on various signaling pathways that ultimately converge onto transcription factors (TFs), which control the sets of genes that are active in a cell. Cell fate is determined by specific TFs acting in concert.
GCTx has built the world’s first complete collection of human TFs. Through sophisticated multidimensional screening modalities that integrate genome-scale experimental testing and powerful next-generation machine learning, TFome can identify fully optimized TF combinations to differentiate iPSCs into virtually any functional cell type. This allows for a single-step, four-day stem cell differentiation process with >90% efficiency with no requirement for cell type-specific optimization for microenvironmental factors. This has not been achieved previously via conventional small-scale testing.
Through TF-based cell fate programming, TFome is designed to yield first-in-class and best-in-class off-the-shelf cell therapy products up to 100 times more rapidly than conventional methods of cell differentiation with improved potency, efficiency, quality and cost (SuperCells™). GCTx is positioned to be the first company in the iPSC-based cell therapy space to pursue multiple cell products from one starting point using a similar manufacturing strategy for more accelerated development and timelines.
SOURCE: Businesswire