WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frequency Therapeutics, a biotechnology company spearheading the movement to harness the regenerative potential of target populations of stem cells inside the body, announced that Will McLean, Ph.D., Co-founder and Vice President, Biology and Regenerative Medicine, has received a Finalist award for the inaugural Sartorius & Science Prize for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Therapy. The recognition highlights Frequency’s breakthrough PCA Regeneration platform as a leading innovation in the rapidly developing field of regenerative medicine. Dr. McLean’s essay, “Toward a true cure for hearing impairment1,” has been published in Science and he will be recognized during an awards ceremony at the University of Gottingen, Germany on March 20.
“On behalf of the Frequency Therapeutics team, we are honored to be recognized as a Finalist awardee for the Sartorius & Science Prize for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Therapy. We have deep biological justification for our research and approach which is reducing much of the complexity traditional regenerative medicine entails,” said Dr. McLean.
Dr. McLean’s published essay describes the company’s innovative regenerative medicine technique, PCA Regeneration, or Progenitor Cell Activation Regeneration, and its application in the development of Frequency’s lead therapeutic candidate, FX-322, is a small molecule combination that aims to restore hearing in individuals with chronic noise-induced hearing loss.
“The recognition of Frequency’s PCA Regeneration platform is a testament to the breakthrough nature of this molecular regenerative medicine approach and builds on the publications in Cell and Nature journals as well as the recent clinical data showing the potential of this therapeutic opportunity,” said Bob Langer, Sc.D., David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The entire Frequency Therapeutics team congratulates Dr. McLean for his transformative work.”
Established in 2017, the Sartorius & Science Prize for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Therapy, in conjunction with Science magazine, is an annual prize geared toward researchers focused on basic or translational research as described in a 1,000-word essay that advances regenerative medicine and cell therapy.
ABOUT PCA REGENERATION
Frequency’s precise and controlled
approach transiently causes innate progenitor cells to divide and
differentiate to initiate repair, much like what is seen in naturally
regenerating tissues such as the skin and intestine. Frequency activates
‘stemness’ through mimicking signals provided by neighboring cells (the
stem cell niche) with small molecules, and this proprietary approach is
known as the Progenitor Cell Activation (PCA) Regeneration platform.
Frequency believes that PCA Regeneration has the potential to yield a
whole new category of disease-modifying therapeutics for a wide range of
degenerative conditions. To fuel its drug discovery programs, Frequency
is leveraging a PCA screening platform using primary cells, including
cochlear progenitor cells and adult progenitor cells from the
gastrointestinal tract. Potential applications include hearing loss,
demyelinating diseases, skin disorders and gastrointestinal diseases.
ABOUT FREQUENCY THERAPEUTICS
Frequency Therapeutics develops
small molecule drugs to stimulate cells in the body to reverse
biological deficits and restore healthy tissue. Through the transitory
activation of these cells, Frequency enables disease modification
without the complexity of genetic engineering. Our breakthrough therapy
uses a proprietary combination of small-molecule drugs that induce
progenitor cells to multiply and create new cells. Our platform
technology is founded on discoveries in progenitor cell biology by the
labs of Bob Langer, Sc.D. at MIT and Jeff Karp, Ph.D., at Harvard
Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital. www.frequencytx.com.
1 McLean W.J. (2018) Toward a true cure for hearing impairment. Science 359 (6380), 1113 doi: 10.1126/science.aat0966
