Capricor Announces Licensing of Additional Patent Applications from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for Cellular and Exosome-based Technologies

Capricor Therapeutics announced today that it has added seven new patent applications to its existing Exclusive License Agreements with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for technologies related to cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) and CDC-derived extracellular vesicles, including exosomes.

The Exclusive License Agreements with Cedars-Sinai grant Capricor exclusive worldwide rights to commercially develop and market CDCs, which comprise Capricor’s lead investigational cell therapy, CAP-1002, as well as CDC-derived exosomes, which comprise its lead investigational exosome-based therapy candidate, CAP-2003. The new patent applications expand the scope of the Exclusive License Agreements to enable Capricor to develop new therapeutic indications for its cellular and exosome therapies in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ventricular tachyarrhythmia, cancer and age-related disorders.

“Obtaining the rights to these additional patent applications will expand and potentially strengthen Capricor’s intellectual property portfolio,” said Linda Marbán, Ph.D., Capricor president and CEO. “Capricor is moving forward with a clinical trial this year for CAP-1002 as an intravenous therapy in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Pending regulatory approval, we also plan to launch a clinical trial of CAP-2003 in hypoplastic left heart syndrome.”

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive disease that afflicts approximately 200,000 boys and young men, causing muscle degeneration and leading to death, most commonly from heart failure and before the age of 30. Treatment options are limited, and there is no cure. Capricor recently reported significant improvements in cardiac and skeletal muscle function in patients in the advanced stages of Duchenne muscular dystrophy following a single, intracoronary dose of CAP-1002.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a congenital heart defect that affects about 960 newborns in the U.S. each year and is associated with high rates of mortality and heart failure secondary to the condition.

Source – GlobeNewswire