Developing Technology which Allows the Mass Production of Stem Cells

Guest: Dr. Ross Macdonald

Presenter: Henry Acosta

Guest Bio: Doctor Ross Macdonald is the CEO of Cynata Therapeutics, an Australian clinical stage regenerative medicine company that is developing a therapeutic stem cell technology called Cymerus, that allows for the mass production of stem cells. They recently began a world-first Phase I clinical trial into the effectiveness of their technology in treating patients with acute steroid-resistant graft-versus-host disease.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, we are joined by the CEO of Cynata Therapeutics Dr. Ross Macdonald here to share update about their Cymerus™ technology to treat patients with steroid-resistant acute graft versus host disease (GvHD). The Cymerus platform allows for the mass-production of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of a uniformly high quality using cells derived from a single blood donation. The first product currently being tested with the first patient treated a short time ago in the UK is called CYP-001, intended for the treatment of GvHD. Dr Ross hopes to one day increase the effective treatment options available to patients with life-threatening conditions such as acute steroid-resistant GvHD. According to him, if this present clinical trial is successful it will open up the door to many other potential therapeutic uses for Cynata’s unique Cymerus MSC technology. MSCs are currently being studied in over 650 clinical trials and Cynata itself already has strong data in pre-clinical models of heart attack and asthma, as well as other diseases, creating a very promising commercial opportunity for the company.

Transcript – TBU