On December 15, 2021 Bionaut Labs, a company focused on revolutionizing the treatment of central nervous system disorders (CNS) with its Bionaut precision medicine treatment modality, and Candel Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CADL), a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel oncolytic viral immunotherapies, reported a strategic collaboration to investigate the use of Bionaut’s remote-controlled microscale robots for precision delivery of Candel’s oncolytic viral immunotherapy agents to specific brain tumors (Press release, Bionaut Labs, DEC 15, 2021, View Source [SID1234597181]).
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Bionaut Labs will apply its micro-robotic technology under the guidance of an integrated electro-magnetic control system to deliver Candel’s oncolytic viruses directly to brain tumors in a minimally invasive manner. The parties will jointly research the use of the Bionaut platform in the preclinical setting with an aim of advancing to clinical trials. The agreement enables both parties to retain unencumbered rights to their respective platforms, as well as rights for future clinical development together.
"With the goal of maximizing the benefit to patients, Candel continues to evaluate expansion of our clinically validated oncolytic viral immunotherapy approach into additional subsets of patients with high-grade glioma using novel methods, such as the Bionaut platform, to deliver our investigational medicines," said Paul Peter Tak, MD, PhD, FMedSci, President and CEO of Candel Therapeutics. "We look forward to this collaboration with Bionaut Labs in the hope that it will ultimately lead to better outcomes for patients living with brain cancer."
"Bionaut Labs is excited to partner with Candel, a leader in developing oncolytic viruses for multiple cancers, to advance much-needed treatment options for brain cancer patients leveraging our transformative Bionaut platform technology," said Michael Shpigelmacher, co-founder and CEO, Bionaut Labs. "The research we plan to jointly undertake validates our approach and will enable advancement of our technology as we continue our mission of helping patients suffering from debilitating brain diseases who lack effective treatments. We look forward to working with Candel, as this collaboration has the potential to re-envision the standard of care for high-grade gliomas and make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives."
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Bionaut Treatment
A Bionaut is a novel treatment modality that uses remote-controlled microscale robots to deliver biologics, nucleic acids, small molecule, gene or cellular therapies locally to targeted CNS disease areas. Through precise targeting, Bionaut therapeutics could offer better efficacy and safety that cannot be achieved by other traditional treatment or delivery modalities.
Bionauts can be constructed in different designs with custom geometries and surface characteristics. Smaller than a millimeter, they contain moving parts controlled remotely by a magnetic controller, allowing them to safely reach the target and release a therapeutic payload from the cargo compartment. Engineering flexibility provides a broad foundation for designing Bionaut therapies for nearly any disease of interest.
Bionaut Labs has demonstrated safe and controlled navigation of its therapeutic Bionaut to and from the treatment locus in the brain, in a large animal in vivo model. Furthermore, the Company has successfully treated human glioma tumors established in mice, utilizing guided delivery of therapeutic cargos directly into these tumors to eliminate systemic toxicity. These results pave the way to the clinical trials of the Bionaut platform.