Medigen Biotechnology Corp. (3176) today (October 7, 2019) announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with MEDINET Co., Ltd., a publicly listed Japanese company, to introduce MEDINET's proprietary Gamma Delta T (GDT) cell therapy into Taiwan. Under the agreement, Medigen secures exclusive rights in Taiwan to utilize GDT cells in immune cell therapy and will collaborate with medical institutions under Taiwan's Regulation Governing the Application of Specific Medical Examination Technique and Medical Device (“Regulations of Special Medical Techniques”).
Since 2007, MEDINET's GDT cell technology has been adopted by approximately 50 medical institutions in Japan, generating robust clinical data in patients with gastric cancer and bone metastasis. In addition, the technology has been licensed to a biotech company in Scotland to advance Phase II/III clinical trials in lung cancer and other indications. In Taiwan, Medigen will establish a cell therapy implementation plan in accordance with the Regulations of Special Medical Techniques and manufacture GDT cells at its certified Cell Processing Unit (CPU) facilities for patient use.
Although the Regulations of Special Medical Techniques permits the use of immune cell types such as NK, CIK, DC, and GDT cells for autologous immune cell therapy in patients with refractory cancers and late-stage solid tumors, regulatory approval has thus far only been granted for CIK and DC cells. Unmet clinical demand remains for NK and GDT cell therapies. Medigen has already advanced its self-developed natural killer (NK) cell therapy in collaboration with multiple institutions, including E-DA Cancer Hospital, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital, Liouying Chi Mei Hospital. The introduction of GDT cell therapy further expands Medigen's immune cell treatment portfolio and offers cancer patients in Taiwan access to a mature, clinically validated therapeutic option.
About MEDINET Co., Ltd.
Founded in October 1995, MEDINET successfully commercialized immune cell therapy technology in 1999, becoming the first biotechnology company in Japan to provide comprehensive services to medical institutions. MEDINET was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE Mothers #2370) in 2003. The company's proprietary GDT cell preparation technology enables the highly efficient expansion—by factors of 1,000 to 10,000—of the γ9δ2 T cell subpopulation, which demonstrates potent cytotoxic activity against cancer cells.