Eterna Therapeutics and Factor Bioscience Announce Exclusive License and Collaboration Agreement to Accelerate Cell Therapy Development for Oncology, Autoimmune, and Rare Diseases

Core Viewpoint - Eterna Therapeutics Inc. and Factor Bioscience Limited have entered into an exclusive license and collaboration agreement to accelerate the development of advanced cell therapy candidates targeting oncology, rare diseases, and autoimmune disorders [1] Group 1: Agreement Details - Eterna has secured a worldwide, exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-bearing license to develop and market certain induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based cell therapy products, specifically iPSC-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iMSC) engineered to express certain cytokines [1] - The collaboration aims to generate data demonstrating the efficacy of the licensed drug candidates for development towards Investigational New Drug (IND) applications by Eterna or third-party sublicensees [2] - Factor Bioscience will receive milestone payments per product candidate and post-commercialization royalties as part of the agreement [2] Group 2: Company Focus and Pipeline - Eterna Therapeutics is a preclinical-stage company focused on innovative off-the-shelf cell therapies for advanced solid tumors, particularly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and platinum-resistant, TP53-mutant ovarian cancer [3] - The lead product, ERNA-101, is designed to selectively deliver pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-7 and IL-15 to the tumor microenvironment to enhance anti-tumor immunity [3] - Eterna's technology utilizes a best-in-class approach to engineer allogenic iPSCs to express genes of interest and efficiently differentiate into iMSCs [3] Group 3: Factor Bioscience Overview - Factor Bioscience, founded in 2011, is a leading cell engineering platform technology company focused on harnessing cell engineering to treat diseases and improve health [4] - The company is privately held and headquartered in Cambridge, MA [4]