Xintela taking EQSTEM, a stem cell product for horses, towards the market
In a recently completed study in horses, the stem cell product EQSTEM® shows significantly reduced lameness in horses with osteoarthritis (OA) due to joint injury, indicating that this product can reduce joint pain and improve joint function. Xintela is now taking EQSTEM further to the animal health market and will, in dialogue with EMA (European Medicines Agency), determine what additional information is needed for an approval of EQSTEM.
Xintela has previously shown that the company's integrin α10β1-selected stem cells from horses, EQSTEM, which is the equivalent of XSTEM® for humans, have a therapeutic effect on cartilage and bone in an OA model in horses. In order to obtain increased information about the functional effect of the stem cells, Xintela also studied the lameness of horses with OA after a joint injury. The degree of lameness is a measure of the degree of pain and impaired function in the injured joint. The study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Casper Lindegaard and his research team at the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. The results showed that an injection of EQSTEM in a joint with OA after a joint injury, significantly reduced the lameness of the horses compared to untreated horses with a similar injury.
"Xintela has performed research and development with equine stem cells since the start of the company and we have been very successful with our horse studies. The results have strongly supported the development of our human product XSTEM for treatment of OA, which will now be tested in clinical trials on humans, and also build the foundation for the stem cell product EQSTEM for horses. The positive results, the large need for an effective OA therapy for horses and that EQSTEM can reach the market significantly earlier than the product XSTEM for humans, has led to our decision to further develop EQSTEM in collaboration with Professor Lindegaard", says Xintela's CEO Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund.
Professor Casper Lindegaard comments: "Osteoarthritis in horses is very common and today there are no effective treatment options. The positive treatment effect that Xintela's horse product EQSTEM shows on the lameness of horses with osteoarthritis is very convincing and shows that EQSTEM has great potential to be an effective therapy. We are very much looking forward to the continued collaboration with Xintela to bring EQSTEM further towards the market".
Xintela AB (publ)
Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund, CEO
Tel: +46 46 275 65 00
Email: [email protected]
Medicon Village
223 81 Lund, Sweden
www.xintela.se
About Xintela
Xintela develops innovative and patent protected cell therapies and targeted cancer therapies based on the marker technology platform XINMARK®. The platform is built on specific cell surface proteins (integrins) and more than 25 years of research and development. Xintela uses the marker technology to select and quality assure stem cells (XSTEM) to develop stem cell therapies for diseases that today lack efficient treatment options, including the joint disease osteoarthritis (OA). Xintela has built an in-house GMP-facility for manufacturing of stem cell products and is preparing a First in Human clinical study on patients with knee OA. In the oncology program, Xintela develops antibody-based therapies for treatment of aggressive tumors including glioblastoma and triple-negative breast cancer. Xintela is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm since 22 March 2016. Xintela's Certified Adviser at Nasdaq First North Growth Market is Erik Penser Bank AB, +46 8-463 80 00, [email protected].
