NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Contract manufacturing firm Aldevron announced today that it has agreed to collaborate with non-profit foundation Myeloma Crowd to advance treatments and attempt to find a cure for multiple myeloma.
Aldevron has licensed minicircle DNA technology developed by Stanford University professor Mark Kay. Minicircles are small circular plasmid derivatives that are free of all prokaryotic vector parts. They have been used in research as transgene carriers for the genetic modification of mammalian cells.
Under the terms of the collaboration, the Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative (MCRI) will fund the company's development of minicircle DNA products, to support research into CART-Cell therapies for multiple myeloma or other hematologic cancers.
"We are privileged to be part of the ground-breaking cell therapy work supported by MCRI," Aldevron CEO Michael Chambers said in a statement. "Combining the minicircle DNA technology with Aldevron’s manufacturing experience and expertise will enable the progression of these novel technologies from the bench to the bedside."