Intelligent Cells: Shoreline Builds Immunotherapy Platform, Pipeline with $140M Financing

 

CEO Kleanthis Xanthopoulos touts the San Diego biotech’s engineering prowess in developing iPSC-derived NK cells and macrophages against cancer

Shoreline Biosciences has developed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages that are optimized by applying gene editing to target specific genes with properties sought by the company. San Diego-based Shoreline says its “intelligently engineered” NK cells can target and kill tumors more effectively and efficiently…

[Full article text: https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/intelligent-cells-shoreline-builds-immunotherapy-platform-pipeline-with-140m-financing] 

California Life Sciences awarded Kite Pharma, a Gilead company, and Shoreline Biosciences the 2021 Strategic Partnership of the Year Award

Shoreline Biosciences, Inc. is thrilled and honored to be recognized by the California Life Sciences (CLS) as the #Pantheon2021 award winner for the Strategic Partnership of the Year Award. Thank you, Kite Pharma, a Gilead company; we are incredibly grateful for your continued partnership as we develop safe, effective, and affordable iPSC-derived cell therapies. 

Developing Allogeneic Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Based Therapies to Kill Cancer Cells with Kleanthis Xanthopoulos Shoreline Biosciences

Nov 4, 2021

Kleanthis Xanthopoulos is Co-Founder and CEO of Shoreline Biosciences. He talks about the Shoreline cell therapy platform that uses standardized manufacturing of allogeneic induced pluripotent stem cells to create an effective treatment to kill tumor cells with multiple advantages over autologous T-cell therapies.

Kleanthis explains, “We are focusing specifically on two different effector cells, Natural Killers and Macrophages, and we derive them from a platform which is induced pluripotent stem cells. This gives us the ability to really engineer the NK cells and Macrophages that we derive from iPSC, so they become allogeneic standardized, meaning they can be introduced to any patient and then are targeted and specific.”

“Initial clinical results are showing us that iPSC derived NK cells don’t appear to have the kind of side effects that you see with T-cells. So we are very, very excited about that. And we are seeing that there’s a different dimension in cell therapies that can be served very, very nicely through these allogeneic pluripotent stem cell based therapies.”

After the interview, Shoreline announced it has raised $140 million in its latest fundraising round.

#ShorelineBio #ShoreBiosciences #Oncology #Immunotherapy #NKCells #iPSC #Macrophages #SanDiego

Download the transcript here

Dendreon Pharmaceuticals and Shoreline Biosciences Announce CMC and Manufacturing Alliance to Advance the Future of iPSC Cellular Therapy

– Partnership Focuses on Next Generation Allogeneic Cell Therapies –

SEAL BEACH, Calif. & SAN DIEGO, November 4th , 2021 – Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company and pioneer in the development of cellular immunotherapy, and Shoreline Biosciences, a biotechnology company developing allogeneic off-the-shelf, standardized, and targeted natural killer (NK) and macrophage cellular immunotherapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) for cancer, today announced an alliance to advance the future of iPSC-derived cellular therapies.

The alliance leverages Dendreon’s extensive manufacturing, process development and end-to-end logistics expertise for the advancement of Shoreline’s pipeline of iPSC-derived cellular therapies. Dendreon is providing scalable cGMP manufacturing support for certain programs through clinical development and launch, enabling Shoreline to rapidly advance multiple products in parallel.

“With more than a decade of proven expertise in cell therapy manufacturing and an established supply chain and logistics infrastructure, Dendreon is well positioned to support Shoreline in manufacturing from Phase I clinical trials through commercialization,” said Maria Cho, Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Strategy. “We are thrilled to partner with Shoreline to enable the future of cell therapy and change the way serious diseases are treated.”

“We are excited to partner with Dendreon, a leader in cell therapy, to manufacture cost-efficient, highly-scalable product candidates,” said Mohammad El-Kalay, Ph.D., Senior VP & Head of CMC for Shoreline.  “Through our partnership with Dendreon, we are accelerating the commercialization of our next generation NK cell and macrophage products to bring scalable, allogeneic, “off the shelf” therapies to more patients in need.”

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About Dendreon

Dendreon is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company and end-to-end provider of manufacturing services for the cell therapy market. Dendreon’s flagship product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was the first FDA-approved immunotherapy made from a patient’s own immune cells and has been prescribed to over 40,000 men in the U.S. since 2010. Dendreon is headquartered in Seal Beach, Calif. For more information about Dendreon’s contract manufacturing services division, please visit https://www.dendreon.com/Partner-With-Us.

About Shoreline’s iPSC NK cell technology

Shoreline has developed a proprietary platform focused on iPSC-derived natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages that are optimized with precise and rational genetic reprogramming. The Shoreline NK cell and macrophage-based cell therapies are designed to provide an effective and efficient means for targeting and killing tumors as well as repairing tissue homeostasis. Shoreline’s approach, based on the advantage of its iPSC cell engineering and expansion, is being used to create a streamlined, affordable, and scalable manufacturing process that can deliver cell therapy treatments to patients in a more cost-effective, time-saving manner. Shoreline’s technology is at the forefront of regenerative medicine and is being used to develop potential therapies to treat a wide range of oncology indications.

About Shoreline Biosciences

Shoreline is dedicated to creating next-generation cellular immunotherapies for cancer that overcome the current limitations of first-generation cell therapy products.  Shoreline is building a pipeline of natural killer (NK) cell and macrophage-cell therapy candidates derived from its deep expertise in iPSC differentiation methods and genetic reprogramming of disease relevant pathways.  Shoreline has strategic partnerships with Kite, a Gilead Company, and BeiGene, a global biotechnology company, and is supported by high-quality institutional investors.  Shoreline Biosciences is headquartered in San Diego, CA.

For more information, please visit https://shorelinebio.com/ and engage with us on LinkedIn.

Shoreline Biosciences Investor and Media Contact:
Amy Conrad
Juniper Point
amy@juniper-point.com
858-366-3243

Shoreline Biosciences – (iPSC)-Derived Allogeneic Natural Killer (NK) and Macrophage Products

Dr. Kleanthis Xanthopoulos, co-founder,  Chairman  and CEO of Shoreline Biosciences, discusses the development of genetically engineered induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived allogeneic natural killer (NK) and macrophage products that are intelligently designed for greater  specificity, potency and persistence, overcoming the limitations of early cell therapies, for use in oncology and regenerative medicine. 

Kleanthis is a serial biotechnology entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical research industries as an executive, company founder, chief executive officer, investor and board member.

Dr. Xanthopoulos has founded five companies, introduced three life science companies to NASDAQ and financed and brokered numerous creative strategic alliance and partnership deals with large pharmaceutical partners.In addition to his role at Shoreline Biosciences, Dr. Xanthopoulos is the Chairman of Stork Capital Life Sciences which focuses on building and investing in innovative biotechnology companies. Dr. Xanthopoulos is a member of the board of directors of IRRAS AB, Connect Biopharma, (NASDAQ: CNTB), Zosano Pharma, Inc., (NASDAQ: ZSAN), and is the co-founder and a member of the board of directors of privately held Sente Inc.

Previously, he served on the boards of LDO sp.a. (Milan, Italy), Odyssey Therapeutics, Anadys Pharmaceuticals and Regulus Therapeutics.

Dr. Xanthopoulos participated in The Human Genome Project as a Section Head of the National Human Genome Research Institute from 1995 to 1997. Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. An Onassis Foundation scholar, Dr. Xanthopoulos received his B.Sc. in Biology with honors from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and received both his M.Sc. in Microbiology and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Stockholm, Sweden.

https://healthprofessionalradio.com.au/shoreline-biosciences-ipsc-derived-allogeneic-natural-killer-nk-and-macrophage-products/ 

Fresh off Kite and BeiGene deals, Shoreline ups the ante with a hefty crossover

Editor: Max Gelman

Though it may seem like Shoreline Biosciences is rapidly gaining momentum with a flurry of deals — and, now, a new funding round — Kleanthis Xanthopoulos doesn’t feel he’s in a rush.

The biotech’s chief executive put the bow on a $140 million Series B on Tuesday, as Shoreline continues a streak of wheeling and dealing that’s seen it partner with Gilead’s Kite and BeiGene these last few months. And despite the new raise technically being a crossover round with Ally Bridge Group leading the way, Xanthopoulos is taking his time in prepping a public offering.

“It’s only smart for us to be ready for an IPO, but we have so much capital we can pick the right timing,” Xanthopoulos told Endpoints News. “Practically, we’re going to be ready to become a public company. When the time comes, we’ll be set, but it’s good to have that luxury.”

Driving all the interest are Shoreline’s off-the-shelf cancer therapies, including a particular focus on iPSC NK cells and macrophages for various tumors. Partnered with Dan Kaufman’s lab out of UC-San Diego, Shoreline has built a war chest of $300 million to advance such treatments, build out its manufacturing capabilities and sign its high-profile collaborations.

Manufacturing specifically has a special place in Shoreline’s plans, as Xanthopoulos eventually hopes the company will be able to create NK cell therapies that will be used in the community setting. It’s a pitch that’s driven significant investment toward the field as a whole, with companies like Artiva gaining backing from blue-chip investors and Merck.

But Shoreline’s focus on pluripotent stem cells — compared to Artiva’s donor cell approach — gives it a key differentiating factor, Xanthopoulos said. The two have very different manufacturing processes and the CEO believes iPSC NK cells will prove safer and more cost-effective in the long run.

“We incorporated AI, automation to completely rethink how we’re going to create the manufacturing,” he said. “We’ve recruited people from the electronic chip manufacturing industry to see how it worked there. A large portion of the raise is earmarked to build that facility.”

The company is now sitting on 10 pipeline programs largely aimed at a variety of hematological and solid tumors. Xanthopoulos said there are nine candidates involving NK cells, including two in house, three from the Kite partnership and four being co-developed with BeiGene. The last is Shoreline’s in-house macrophage program, which is slightly behind the rest, the CEO said.

Xanthopoulos likes to think of it as not just Shoreline’s pipeline, however, but the pipelines of three different companies coming together. Moving forward, Shoreline is getting ready to send its first IND for the lead in-house NK cell therapy by the end of 2022, with plans to submit “one or two” INDs every year after that, Xanthopoulos said.

And once that’s accomplished, maybe the IPO will come. But Xanthopoulos isn’t counting his cell therapies before they come home to roost.

“We want to see [our therapies] as broadly available as antibodies,” he said. “It should be that simple given how safe the NK cells have proven to be in the clinic.”

https://endpts.com/fresh-off-kite-and-beigene-deals-shoreline-ups-the-ante-with-a-hefty-crossover-but-the-biotech-insists-its-in-no-rush/