Press Releases Archives - Page 2 of 3

–– Next phase of collaboration to primarily focus on continued advancement of transposon engineering for allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies and optimization of CAR-NK cell manufacturability ––

–– Exclusively licensed patent rights cover next generation cell process technologies for optimizing CAR-NK manufacturability invented during earlier collaboration phase ––

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– March 14, 2022 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off‑the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced an expansion and extension of its research collaboration with Branden Moriarity, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, to further advance the versatility of transposon engineering for arming CAR-NK cell therapies with functional attributes not found in earlier generations of cell therapies.

Catamaran has also secured an exclusive, worldwide license to University of Minnesota patent rights covering next generation cell expansion technologies which do not require the use of feeder cells. These new technologies were invented during the parties’ research collaboration which has been in place since early 2020. Cell expansion technologies which do not rely on the use of feeder cells offer the potential to improve the efficiency and decrease the cost of manufacturing CAR-NK cell therapies.

“This expanded collaboration and license demonstrate our commitment to develop and integrate the most advanced technologies for scalable and robust manufacturing of our allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies,” said Alvin Shih, MD, Chief Executive Officer at Catamaran Bio. “We will continue to innovate in the areas of cell engineering and processing to keep Catamaran on the leading edge of CAR-NK cell therapy manufacturing and to allow us to rapidly advance the most effective cell therapies for cancer patients.”

In the new phase of the collaboration, research teams from the University of Minnesota and Catamaran will further optimize the TcBuster^TM transposon system, a next generation nonviral genetic modification system which has been integrated into Catamaran’s TAILWIND^TM platform. TcBuster was engineered for use in human immune cells by a team led by Dr. Branden Moriarity, Catamaran’s scientific co-founder and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology, the University of Minnesota. Catamaran licensed the TcBuster transposon system from Bio-Techne Corporation.

“In contrast to viral engineering methods commonly used today to make cell therapies, transposon genetic modification systems offer greater versatility because they can carry larger and more complex genetic payloads and they allow for multiplex gene editing in one step,” said Joseph Gold, PhD, Vice President, Technical Operations and Manufacturing at Catamaran Bio. “With our extended collaboration with Dr. Moriarity’s lab, we will further expand the boundaries of what is possible with transposon engineering to ensure that we are able to develop CAR-NK cell therapies with all of the desired functional attributes to optimize effectiveness against solid tumors.”

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND™ platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and the UMN Discovery Capital investment program. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.

TcBuster™ is a trademark of Bio-Techne Corporation.

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – March 9, 2022 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off ‑the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced that the company will present preclinical efficacy data for its CAT-179 program, an allogeneic solid tumor CAR-NK cell therapy, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022, being held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 8-13, 2022. CAT-179 is an allogeneic, cryopreserved HER2-targeted CAR-NK cell therapy engineered using Catamaran’s TAILWIND platform.

Details of the poster presentation are as follows:

Presentation Title: Allogeneic natural killer cells engineered to express HER2 CAR, interleukin 15 and TGF beta dominant negative receptor effectively control HER2+ tumors

Session Title: Adoptive Cell Therapy 1

Session Date & Time: Sunday, April 10, 2022, from 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT

Location: New Orleans Convention Center, Exhibit Halls D-H, Poster Section 36

Abstract Number: 555

The abstract is now available on the AACR conference website.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – February 28, 2022 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off‑the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the appointment of Michael DeRidder, PhD, as Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and New Product Planning. Dr. DeRidder brings extensive experience leading product planning and portfolio strategy in the cell therapy and immuno-oncology areas, most recently as Vice President, Medicine Commercialization Leader for Cell and Gene Therapies at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

“We are excited to welcome Mike to our leadership team. His proven track record of applying strategic and commercial insights to the development of cell therapies will be invaluable as we continue to build Catamaran’s CAR-NK cell therapy product pipeline,” said Alvin Shih, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio.

“I look forward to guiding the company’s portfolio strategy and integrating commercial considerations into our broader product development approach,” said Dr. DeRidder. “This is an extremely exciting time to join Catamaran, as we advance two allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies to the clinic with the potential to effectively treat solid tumors.”

In Dr. DeRidder’s previous role at GSK, he was responsible for planning the global launch strategy for letetresgene autoleucel (lete-cel), an engineered T cell therapy currently in pivotal clinical development. He also played a leadership role in the operational design and implementation of GSK’s cell therapy capabilities and the cell therapy portfolio strategy. In addition, he played a leading role in the company’s $5 billion acquisition of Tesaro in 2019 and the in-licensing of the NY-ESO-1 TCR program from Adaptimmune. Prior to this, he held positions of increasing responsibility at GSK in New Product Planning and Business Development across a range of disease areas. Dr. DeRidder holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a BSE in Bioengineering from Tulane University.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

– Data validate novel single-step NK-cell engineering using non-viral transposon system for CAR delivery in combination with gene editing –

– Engineered CAR-NK cells demonstrate cytotoxicity against multiple tumor cell lines –

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – December 13, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off‑the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced preclinical data that demonstrate key capabilities of its TAILWIND^TM platform being applied to develop CAT-248, an allogeneic CD70‑targeted CAR-NK cell therapy. The data demonstrate successful engineering of a CD70 CAR‑NK cell therapy that achieves cytotoxicity in vitro against various tumor cell lines. Using the integrated engineering and manufacturing capabilities of the TAILWIND platform, the data also show highly efficient non-viral delivery of a CAR targeting CD70 and knock out of endogenous CD70 in a single engineering step.

The data support advancement of CAT-248, Catamaran’s co-lead CAR-NK cell therapy candidate, which is directed against CD70, a tumor antigen that is highly expressed on certain types of cancers including renal cell carcinoma, glioma, pancreatic cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia. The results were presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) being held in Atlanta from December 11‑14, 2021.

“CD70 is a compelling target in several high unmet need solid tumors and hematologic malignancies and we are excited to support the advancement of CAT-248 as an effective therapy for CD70 expressing cancers,” said Alvin Shih, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “These data further establish our TAILWIND platform as an industry-leading, highly versatile and scalable manufacturing platform for CAR‑NK cell therapies, including complex products with multiple genome modifications.”

“Our ASH data demonstrate cutting-edge capabilities that are essential for both tumor-targeting design as well as scalable manufacturing of CAR-NK cell therapies,” said Vipin Suri, PhD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer of Catamaran Bio. “Notably, we have now demonstrated a novel single-step engineering approach for simultaneously using a non-viral transposon system for CAR delivery in combination with CRISPR editing for gene knockout. Using our TAILWIND platform, we effectively integrate all the necessary properties to position our CAR-NK cells as allogeneic, off-the-shelf therapies for multiple cancers, especially solid tumors.”

Data presented in a poster titled, “Engineering CD70-Directed CAR-NK Cells for the Treatment of Hematological and Solid Malignancies,” describe experiments showing key capabilities of the TAILWIND^TM platform and characterization of the CD70-targeted CAR-NK cells. Highlights from the poster include:

CD70 was expressed across hematological and solid tumor malignancies but upregulated in activated peripheral blood NK cells.
Single-step, non-viral CAR delivery using the TcBuster^TM Transposon System and CRISPR/Cas9 editing of NK cells resulted in more than 70% integration/expression of CD70 CAR and more than 80% knockout of endogenous CD70.
Activation of peripheral blood NK cells strongly upregulated CD70 expression, resulting in fratricide upon expression of CD70 directed CAR in these cells.
Knockout of endogenous CD70 enabled effective expansion of CD70 CAR-NK cells while maintaining innate cytotoxicity.
CAR-NK cells engineered with CD70 CAR and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of endogenous CD70 were active against multiple CD70‑positive tumor lines.

The studies presented at ASH are co-authored by Catamaran and its collaborators at the University of Minnesota. The poster presentation is available on Catamaran’s website.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – November 15, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the appointment of Tara Place, MBA, as Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness. Ms. Place brings more than 20 years of experience as a global human resources leader with broad experience and proven expertise in building cultures that attract, retain and develop world class talent. At Catamaran, she will be responsible for all aspects of human resources, building organizational strategies and talent management, and will be a key contributor to the company’s plans for growth.

“Tara is a great addition to our leadership team, and her strategic perspective and extensive HR background will be instrumental in supporting Catamaran’s growth,” said Alvin Shih, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “With the rapid progress we have made on our early pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapies, our company is poised for rapid expansion, and I look forward to working with Tara to continue to build our company’s leadership position in the cell therapy space.”

“It is an extremely exciting time to join Catamaran, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the company’s evolution and growth,” said Ms. Place. “Catamaran has a groundbreaking technology platform and differentiated pipeline programs, and I am delighted to be part of building a high-performing team to bring these new and innovative CAR-NK cell therapies to cancer patients.”

Prior to joining Catamaran, Ms. Place led human resources at Chiasma, Inc., where she oversaw all organizational development and HR initiatives, including talent acquisition, leadership development, and employee retention strategies, as the company transitioned to a commercial biotech organization. During her tenure with Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Biogen, she held leadership roles in many aspects of human resources, including talent acquisition, learning and development, employee engagement, and diversity and inclusion. Tara holds a BA in Psychology from Boston University and an MBA from Simmons Graduate School of Management.

About Catamaran Bio
Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND™ platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and the UMN Discovery Capital investment program. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBioon Twitter.

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

– Catamaran’s CAR-NK programs include CAT-179 targeting HER2-expressing breast and gastric cancers, and CAT-248 targeting CD70-expressing cancers –

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – November 4, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced that it has designated CAT-179, a HER2-targeted CAR-NK cell therapy, and CAT-248, a CD70-targeted CAR-NK cell therapy, as its first preclinical development programs. The company also announced that data supporting the CAT-248 program will be presented during a poster session at the 63^rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) which will be held virtually and in person in Atlanta from December 11-14, 2021.

At ASH, Catamaran will present data demonstrating the successful deployment of its proprietary TAILWIND™ platform to generate a CAR-NK cell therapy which demonstrates high levels of cytotoxicity against various tumor cell lines. Catamaran’s TAILWIND™ platform provides an integrated CAR-NK solution that includes technology to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, CAR architectures optimized for NK cells, and non-viral transposon engineering for efficient manufacturing of CAR-NK cell therapies. The ASH presentation will focus on preclinical data supporting CAT‑248, Catamaran’s allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapy directed against CD70, a tumor antigen that is highly expressed on certain types of cancers, including renal cell carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia. This work is a collaboration between Catamaran and the lab of Dr. Branden Moriarity, scientific co-founder of Catamaran and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

“The unveiling of our initial two development programs demonstrates Catamaran’s rapid progress toward delivering off-the-shelf CAR‑NK cell therapies capable of reaching solid tumors,” said Alvin Shih, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “The new preclinical data we will be presenting at ASH demonstrate the viability and potential of our TAILWIND™ platform to enable a leading-edge solution for skillfully designing and efficiently manufacturing CAR-NK cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. We are excited to continue advancing our lead programs toward the clinic, as we seek to extend the transformative potential of cell therapy to patients with solid tumors.”

The details of Catamaran’s presentation at ASH 2021 are as follows:

Title: Engineering CD70-Directed CAR-NK Cells for the Treatment of Hematological and Solid Malignancies
Poster session: Abstract 1691, Session 703, Cellular Immunotherapies: Basic and Translational
Date and time: Saturday, December 11, 2021, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Hall B5 at Georgia World Congress Center and via virtual meeting registration
Presenters: Eugene Choi (Principal Scientist, Catamaran Bio) and Celeste Richardson (SVP Research, Catamaran Bio)

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

Internationally-recognized researchers and clinicians bring collective expertise to guide product development for pioneering CAR-NK cell therapies for solid tumors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – October 26, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the formation of its scientific advisory board (SAB). The group is comprised of world-class cell therapy scientists and clinicians spanning research, manufacturing and clinical development. The SAB will work collaboratively with Catamaran’s leadership and R&D teams to help advance the company’s platform and its pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapies.

“The members of our newly formed scientific advisory board bring deep expertise across the five core areas that drive the development of our innovative CAR-NK cell therapies: NK cell biology, synthetic biology, cell engineering, manufacturing technologies, and clinical development,” said Vipin Suri, PhD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer of Catamaran Bio. “This highly accomplished group of scientific, technical and clinical leaders brings leading edge expertise that will enhance our TAILWIND^TM platform and accelerate the development of Catamaran’s transformative CAR-NK therapies for solid tumors.”

The members of the Catamaran scientific advisory board include (alphabetically listed):

Catherine Blish, MD, PhD, Associate Dean for Basic and Translational Research and Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Blish is an expert in the diversity and function of NK cells and development of technologies for phenotypic profiling of immune cells. Dr. Blish’s research spans from basic investigations of NK cell recognition mechanisms to clinical immunology studies, with a particular focus on host-pathogen interactions in viral diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, HIV, influenza, and EBV infections.

Catherine Bollard, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University and Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children’s National Research Institute at Children’s National Hospital; scientific co-founder of Catamaran Bio. Dr. Bollard is a leader in the design and clinical development of cell therapies. She was the first to initiate clinical trials with cell therapies enhanced with engineered TGFβ receptors to address TGFβ-induced immunosuppression in lymphoma patients. Dr. Bollard is a past President of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy and the current President of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

Yvonne Chen, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Chen is a leader in synthetic biology, particularly the application of synthetic biology technologies to the design of effective cell therapies that optimally target tumor cells and counteract the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Dr. Chen’s lab is developing next-generation CARs that can perform logical computation of multiple input signals, thereby increasing the specificity and versatility of CAR-modified immune cells.

Gianpietro Dotti, MD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Co-Leader Immunology Program and Director of Cellular Immunotherapy Program of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina. Dr. Dotti is a leader in design and clinical development of cell therapies with an emphasis on developing CAR-based strategies. A significant focus of his research is the development of strategies aimed at overcoming immune suppressive mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment.

Timothy Harris, PhD, Venture Partner, SV Health Investors; Senior Scientific Consultant, Repertoire Immune Medicines; co-founder of Catamaran Bio and Chairman of the SAB. Dr. Harris is a molecular biologist, biochemist and geneticist with over 40 years as a science and business leader, guiding and leading laboratory work and scientists in a range of molecular research areas. He has served in R&D leadership roles at Bioverativ, Biogen, Frederick National Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute, SGX Pharmaceuticals, Celltech and Glaxo Group Research.

Christopher A. Klebanoff, MD, Assistant Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP); Member Investigator, MSK Center for Cell Engineering and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Dr. Klebanoff is a physician scientist, breast cancer specialist and solid tumor immunotherapy expert with 19 years of experience in the pre-clinical and clinical development of cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.

Lewis Lanier, PhD. Chairman, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco; Co-Lead Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program UCSF Cancer Center. Dr. Lanier is a recognized expert on NK cell biology with seminal contributions to the understanding of how NK cells recognize and eliminate tumor cells while sparing normal healthy cells. He has discovered and characterized multiple activating and inhibiting NK receptors and demonstrated their interaction with cancer cells.

Branden Moriarity, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota; scientific co-founder of Catamaran Bio. Dr. Moriarity is an expert in engineering NK and other immune cells for cell therapy, and he has made significant discoveries in non‑viral cell engineering using DNA transposon systems. He holds multiple patents for technologies using DNA transposon systems, targeted nuclease platforms (TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9) and base editors, and he has widely published in the field of genome engineering.

Eric Yvon, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Director of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy Laboratories, The George Washington University Cancer Center. Dr. Yvon is a leading expert in the design and manufacturing of engineered NK cell therapies, and he directs the GMP cell therapy manufacturing facility at The George Washington University.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND^TM platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures and Astellas Venture Management. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.

Catamaran contact:

Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – August 2, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the appointment of Joseph Gold, PhD, as Vice President, Technical Operations and Manufacturing. Dr. Gold is a recognized leader with more than 25 years of experience in cell and gene therapy process development and GMP manufacturing. As head of Technical Operations and Manufacturing at Catamaran, he will lead the development of key aspects of the company’s TAILWIND™ platform, including transposon-based NK cell engineering, process development and scale-up, as well as GMP manufacturing of Catamaran’s CAR-NK product candidates.

“We are thrilled to have Joe join our senior leadership team. Joe has a very successful track record of managing and enabling the manufacture of cell therapy products through the entire development cycle, and his expertise will help ensure that our innovative CAR-NK cell therapies reach patients as soon as possible,” said Alvin Shih, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio. “I look forward to working together with Joe as we build the infrastructure to deliver best-in-class NK cell therapies for patients with solid tumors.”

Most recently, Dr. Gold was Senior Director of Manufacturing for the Center for Biomedicine and Genetics at the City of Hope Cancer Center, where he was responsible for managing process development and GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products for both internal users and external clients. In this role at City of Hope, he led multiple external collaborations to advance cancer research programs for cell therapies and managed a designated cell production facility. Previously, he was Assistant Director of Translational Research at the Stanford University Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Gold began his career in biotechnology with Geron Corporation, where he served in several leadership roles. He is an inventor on more than 15 patents related to cell therapy and regenerative medicine and has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Gold earned a BS from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University.

“Catamaran’s approach toward CAR-NK cell therapy for solid tumors is highly differentiated, and I am excited to be joining the Catamaran team as we seek to advance our first cell therapies toward the clinic,” commented Dr. Gold. “My work over the past two decades has prepared me for the challenges of delivering CAR-NK therapies, and I look forward to playing a critical role in the production of potentially life-saving therapies for cancer patients in need.”

About the TAILWIND™ platform

Catamaran’s TAILWIND™ platform integrates proprietary capabilities to create novel, allogeneic CAR‑NK cell therapies by harnessing the natural cancer-fighting properties of natural killer (NK) cells and enhancing them with the power of synthetic biology and innovative NK cell engineering and manufacturing. With the TAILWIND platform, CAR-NK cells are programmed with NK cell-specific CAR architectures and potency-boosting switches to neutralize the hostile tumor microenvironment and enable efficacy against diverse cancer types, especially solid tumors. Additionally, the TAILWIND platform includes proprietary, non-viral NK cell engineering technology for efficient modification of NK cells with customized genetic programs enabled by synthetic biology. Catamaran’s CAR-NK cell therapies use healthy donor cells that are engineered and manufactured for off‑the‑shelf use, unlike current CAR-T cell therapies that use a patient’s own genetically modified T cells and require a customized, multi-week manufacturing process.

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran contact:

Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
617-620-9709
mark@catamaranbio.com

Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

Broadened agreement includes the development of novel technologies for allogeneic CAR-NK cell expansion

Catamaran also secures broad worldwide license to TcBuster™ transposon system for clinical and commercial manufacturing of next generation cell therapies

CAMBRIDGE, MA and MINNEAPOLIS, MN – June 24, 2021 – Catamaran Bio and Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) today announced an expansion of their collaboration for the development of cell engineering and cell process technologies for use by Catamaran in the manufacturing of CAR-NK cell therapy products.

The companies have now broadened the scope of their collaboration to include the development of novel cell expansion technologies for use in the manufacturing of CAR‑NK cell therapy products. In addition, Catamaran has secured a broad worldwide license to Bio‑Techne’s rights related to the TcBuster™ transposon system for use in the research, clinical and commercial manufacturing of next generation allogeneic cell therapy products. Catamaran has integrated the TcBuster transposon system, a non-viral cell engineering technology that enables multiplex gene editing and efficient delivery of large genetic payloads, into its TAILWIND™ platform for CAR-NK cell therapies.

The initial collaboration between Catamaran and Bio-Techne, which began in 2020, has been focused on optimizing the application of the TcBuster transposon system to CAR-NK cell engineering. The TcBuster transposon system was discovered in the lab of Catamaran’s scientific co-founder, Branden Moriarity, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota and acquired by Bio-Techne in 2019.

“We have established a successful track record of collaborating with Bio-Techne to optimize technologies for use in CAR-NK cell engineering and manufacturing. This collaboration and license exemplify our strategy to access technologies that provide important advantages in the cell therapy manufacturing process, as we position Catamaran as a leader in developing off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies for solid tumors,” said Alvin Shih, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio.

“Our agreements with Catamaran open the path for Bio-Techne’s cutting-edge cell engineering and process technologies to deliver gene-modified CAR-NK cell therapies for cancer,” said Dave Eansor, President of Bio-Techne’s Protein Sciences Segment. “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Catamaran and increase our impact in the cell therapy space.”

Through the collaboration, the Catamaran and Bio-Techne teams are focused on developing and enhancing technologies for scalable and robust manufacturing of allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies. Bio-Techne will contribute innovative cell expansion technologies and both companies will contribute know-how to enable large-scale production of functional CAR-NK cells.

“We are excited to be making advances with innovative technologies that enable Catamaran to achieve scalable and robust manufacturing processes for our CAR-NK cell therapies. We are committed to incorporating transformative technologies into our TAILWIND platform as we advance our product candidates toward the clinic and enable allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies to reach their therapeutic potential,” said Vipin Suri, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Catamaran Bio.

About the TAILWIND™ platform
Catamaran’s TAILWIND™ platform integrates proprietary capabilities to create novel, allogeneic CAR‑NK cell therapies by harnessing the natural cancer-fighting properties of natural killer (NK) cells and enhancing them with the power of synthetic biology and innovative NK cell engineering and manufacturing. With the TAILWIND platform, CAR-NK cells are programmed with NK cell-specific CAR architectures and potency-boosting switches to neutralize the hostile tumor microenvironment and enable efficacy against diverse cancer types, especially solid tumors. Additionally, the TAILWIND platform includes proprietary, non-viral NK cell engineering technology for efficient modification of NK cells with customized genetic programs enabled by synthetic biology. Catamaran’s CAR-NK cell therapies use healthy donor cells that are engineered and manufactured for off‑the‑shelf use, unlike current CAR-T cell therapies that use a patient’s own genetically modified T cells and require a customized, multi-week manufacturing process.

About Catamaran Bio
Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND™ platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and the UMN Discovery Capital investment program. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has approximately 2,600 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit www.bio-techne.com.

Catamaran contact:
Mark Boshar, Chief Operating Officer
mark@catamaranbio.com

617-620-9709

Media contact:
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

914-204-6412

Bio-Techne Contact:
David Clair, Senior Director Investor Relations and Corporate Development
david.clair@bio-techne.com

612-656-4416

Transposon technology efficiently generates active CAR-NK cells and has potential advantages compared to viral approaches

Oral presentation highlighted at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy annual meeting

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – May 11, 2021 – Catamaran Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies to treat solid tumors, today announced that an oral presentation with results generated using an advanced transposon technology for non-viral engineering of CAR-NK cells will be highlighted at the virtual annual meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT), based on work from the laboratory of the company’s scientific founder, Branden Moriarity, PhD. This is the first presentation of data for this novel transposon technology in NK cells, demonstrating high efficiency transposon integration in primary NK cells, subsequent cell expansion, and in vitro activity of the resulting CAR-NK cells. Dr. Moriarity, an Assistant Professor at the Medical School at the University of Minnesota in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, is a pioneer in the fields of genome engineering and non-viral cell engineering and a scientific co-founder of Catamaran. In addition to an ongoing research collaboration with Dr. Moriarity, Catamaran also received support through an early investment from the University of Minnesota Discovery Capital investment program.

“We congratulate our collaborators at the University of Minnesota for this landmark presentation, which provides the first demonstration that this transposon technology efficiently generates active CAR-NK cells and offers potential advantages compared to viral vectors in the manufacture of CAR-NK cells,” said Vipin Suri, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Catamaran Bio. “This novel transposon technology demonstrates important capabilities for improved manufacturability, which will be essential in developing safe and effective cell therapies for solid tumors. We look forward to working with Dr. Moriarity as we develop and advance our CAR-NK programs.”

The oral presentation, entitled “Non-Viral Engineering of CAR-NK Cells Using the TC Buster Transposon System™,” will occur on Thursday, May 13, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. ET during the Advances in Cellular and Immunotherapies session of the ASGCT virtual meeting. The data presented highlights the following research findings:

Approximately 50% transposon integration efficiency using the transposon technology to deliver a multi‑cistronic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) cassette into primary human peripheral blood NK cells.
Resulting cells underwent greater than 800-fold expansion and demonstrated efficacy in an in vitro cell-killing assay.

In contrast to the viral gene delivery methods commonly used in cell therapy manufacturing today, DNA transposon technology has the capacity to efficiently deliver large multi‑cistronic DNA cargoes and drive multiplex genome engineering via a single electroporation step. Transposons have the potential for more convenient and cost-effective manufacture of cell therapy products.

“We are pleased to present these data showing the effective transposon integration in primary NK cells with our transposon technology, the rapid expansion of the resulting CAR-NK cells and their activity in an in vitro model,” said Dr. Moriarity. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with the team at Catamaran to utilize this technology in conjunction with their CAR-NK cell therapy platform as they advance new cell therapy approaches to treat solid tumors.”

About the TAILWIND™ platform

About Catamaran Bio

Catamaran Bio is developing novel, off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies designed to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors. Our proprietary capabilities enable us to harness the natural cancer-fighting properties of NK cells and enhance and tailor their effectiveness with the power of synthetic biology and innovative non-viral cell engineering. We are using our TAILWIND™ platform, an integrated suite of technologies, to specifically address the end-to-end methods of engineering, processing and manufacturing NK cells and rapidly advance our pipeline of CAR-NK cell therapy programs. Our team combines experienced biopharmaceutical leadership with founding scientists who are pioneers in NK cell biology, engineering, manufacturing and clinical application. Catamaran is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and the UMN Discovery Capital investment program. For more information, please visit www.catamaranbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and @CatamaranBio on Twitter.