Shanghai, China and Emeryville, California USA, July 20, 2020?-- JW Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing cell therapies for patients in China, today announced the acquisition of Syracuse Biopharma (Hong Kong) Limited, which includes the licenses for Eureka Therapeutics’ ARTEMIS? antibody TCR and solid tumor technologies for exclusive use in China and the ASEAN countries.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dr. Cheng Liu, Founder and CEO of Eureka Therapeutics, will join the Board of Directors of JW Therapeutics, and Victor Shum, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel of Eureka, will join as a Board Observer.
“We are excited to announce our acquisition of Syracuse to immediately expand our clinical development programs into solid tumors, especially the Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) area,” said Dr. James Li, Co-Founder and CEO of JW Therapeutics. “Syracuse and Eureka have developed an elegant approach to tackling solid tumors with their TCR-mimic and ARTEMIS? technologies. We’re looking forward to working with the teams to bring the next generation of T cell immunotherapies to patients.”
“We are honored that JW Therapeutics, the industry leader in cell immunotherapies in China, has recognized the value of our ARTEMIS? platform, and shared our passion and urgency for developing innovative immunotherapies for patients with cancers,” said Dr. Cheng Liu, Founder and CEO, Eureka Therapeutics. “With JW’s expertise, network and support, we hope to accelerate the development of our T cell therapies against solid tumors. The incidence rate of HCC is very high in China, and JW is well positioned to use their broad expertise to develop these therapies and bring them to patients faster.”
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About JW Therapeutics
JW Therapeutics was founded in February 2016 in Shanghai. As a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development, transformation and commercialization of leading cell immunotherapy, JW Therapeutics aims to become the innovation leader in the industry. The company is committed to collaborating with both local and international peers to build a world-class leading innovation platform for cell immunotherapy, to create the industry standard and ecosystem together, and to benefit Chinese patients and those around the world.
The company has put into place a mature and stable process development system as well as the advancing cGMP manufacturing quality control system. It has obtained the first approval for the clinical trials of CAR-T product targeting CD19 with the largest number of patient enrolment under IND pathway, which enhances its leading position in clinical studies of CAR-T in China.
About Eureka Therapeutics
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel T cell therapies to treat cancers. Its core technology centers around its proprietary ARTEMIS? AbTCR T cell receptor platform and E-ALPHA? antibody discovery platform for the discovery and development of potentially safer and more effective T cell therapies for the treatment of multiple solid and hematologic tumors. ET140202, the Company’s lead asset, is currently in a Phase I/II US multicenter clinical trial in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.
About Syracuse Biopharma
Syracuse Biopharma was formed in 2017 by Eureka Therapeutics to commercialize Eureka’s proprietary TCR-mimic and antibody-TCR ARTEMIS? programs in China and the ASEAN countries. Syracuse’s clinical programs include Eureka’s anti-AFP ARTEMIS? program for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the predominant type of liver cancer, which is currently in a Phase I/II clinical trial in the United States.