Stason signs non-exclusive licence with Lonza
To use GS gene expression system
US contract pharmaceutical manufacturer Stason Pharmaceuticals has signed a non-exclusive licence to use Lonza's GS (glutamine synthetase) gene expression system.
The agreement allows Stason to develop and distribute products based on Tissue Necrosis Therapy (TNT) technologies. Stason can also sell TNT products in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) territories with strategic partners.
Stason will be able to use Lonza's proprietary GS System and Stonsa’s TNT technologies to manufacture and commercialise innovative therapeutic and diagnostic products based on chimeric and fully human TNT monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Stonsa Biopharm, a strategic partner of Stason, is the principal sub-licensee of the TNT and GS System technologies.
The TNT technology platform uses recombinant mAbs to target intracellular antigens in dead or dying (necrotic) tissues. These technologies have demonstrated a broad-spectrum therapeutic and diagnostic potential in solid tumours, including brain, lung, colon, breast, liver, prostate, and pancreatic cancers.
Cotara, a chimeric TNT monoclonal antibody conjugated with a radioisotope Iodine-131 is currently being evaluated in phase l and ll clinical trials in the US and India for the treatment of patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the deadliest form of brain cancer. It has been also tested in conjunction with intravenous treatment of advanced colon cancer in a phase l clinical trial at Stanford University and radioablation therapy in a phase 1 trial at the Mayo Clinic.
