Noor and Nord/Procyon have teamed up to develop implantable stem cell therapies to treat type 1 diabetes

This collaboration combines Procyon Technologies expertise in the development of oxygen implantable cell packaging equipment with No.
will work together to further optimize the equipment and cells used in clinical trials and accelerate the realization of the first human trials with a shared vision of a functional cure for people with type 1 diabetes.
under the terms of the agreement, Procyon Technologies will receive a prepaid licensing fee and will be eligible for further payments related to preclinical, clinical and regulatory milestones.
, Procyon Technologies will receive tiered sales milestones and royalties based on the annual net sales of the co-ed products.
and Nord will be responsible for the development, manufacture and commercialization of type 1 diabetes co-products.
Klarchos Papas, co-founder of Procyon Technologies, is an autoimmune disease in which β cells that produce insulin in the pancreas are mistakenly attacked and destroyed by the body's immune system.
for people with type 1 diabetes, daily insulin injections throughout life to control blood sugar levels and continuous blood sugar monitoring are a real burden.
if a safe and effective treatment can be provided to replace insulin secretion cells that have been lost in people with type 1 diabetes, it is essentially possible to provide a functional cure for patients.
since 2008, Noor and Nord have invested in human stem cell technology and are working to develop treatments for type 1 diabetes for stem cell-derived insulin-producing islet-like clusters.
but having the right cells is only half the problem; cells also need to be protected from the immune system of the subject to avoid rejection, as well as autoimmune from type 1 diabetes.
for the past 20 years, Procyon Technologies co-founder Dr. Klarchos Papas, a professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and director of the Institute for Cell Transplantation, has been working to address the second part of this challenge.
With the support of JDRF International and the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, using key equipment and infrastructure at the University of Arizona, Dr. Papas and his team developed a technology for oxygen-carrying implantable immunosuppression devices that focus on safety, practicality, and maintaining the survival activity and functionality of encapsulated cells.
Procyon cell encapsulation device is a small, flat, thin, highly durable, flexible implantable cavity, similar to tea-bag, a subsulated immunosuppression device that fills allogeneic cells in secretive therapeutic products and protects them from immune rejection.
The device, made from bio-compatible synthetic membranes, reduces foreign reactions, promotes the formation of vascular structures on its surface, allows nutrients to spread rapidly to cells inside the device, and rapidly absorbs insulin (or other therapeutic molecules) secreted by encased cells, while providing a barrier to protect these cells from the body's immune system without the need for immunosuppressant drugs.
Procyon technology is designed to drive real-world clinical applications and also includes integrating oxygen delivery into implantable devices to enhance cell survival and function while enabling tighter cell packaging.
the idea of replacing β cellular function in diabetic patients to prevent the progression of diabetes complications makes sense, and does not require major surgery or anti-rejection drugs.
's combination of Procyon's implantable packaging devices with Noor and Nord's islet-like clusters presents a unique opportunity to develop new cell therapies for the treatment of diabetes by harnessing the expertise of academia and industry, an idea that represents the next frontier in the treatment of type 1 diabetes and the prevention of complications and, if successful, will revolutionized the care of people with type 1 diabetes.
source: Novo Nordisk, Procyon inks licensing pact for stem-cell base therapies for type 1 diabetes