LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PK MED, a French biotech company, privately owned, and established in 2019 by Truffle Capital, announced it has secured a non-dilutive DeepTech financing of € 1.5 million from Bpifrance. The funding will accelerate the company’s project PKM-02, an innovative cell-homing technology aiming to enhance bone marrow transplantation in several diseases with high unmet medical need, such as leukemias and hemoglobinopathies.
Allogenic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT), also known as bone marrow transplantation, involves transferring hematopoietic stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient with depleted or dysfunctional bone marrow. In a broad range of hematologic disorders, this therapy can be curative and/or prolong a patient’s life. More than 25,000 allogenic HSCTs are performed per year in the US and EU, and the treatment’s success depends on sufficient hematopoietic stem cell seeding, engraftment, and expansion within the bone marrow of the patient. However, the fraction of transplanted cells able to make their way to the bone marrow, known as homing, is reported to be low (1-10%). In addition, many patients are not eligible for the procedure, due to limited donor matching and an aggressive conditioning regimen needed to obtain a successful engraftment of the donor cells. Thus, there is an urgent unmet medical need to enhance the homing and engraftment of the transplanted cells.
PK MED’s innovative approach for this PKM-02 project, is based on the development of a therapeutic implant locally injected into the patient's bone marrow prior to allogeneic HSCT. This drug-based unique technology, combined with a biodegradable scaffold, is aimed at increasing the homing of the transplanted cells, as well as their subsequent engraftment. PKM-02 has shown several promising in vitro results, and PK MED is currently initiating preclinical studies. PK MED is considering extending this innovative technology to other applications in tissue regeneration.
Gauthier Pouliquen, Ph.D., CEO of PK MED, comments: “The development of our local cell-homing implant and the support of Bpifrance are a proof of PK MED's technological excellence and its commitment to medicine. Our ambition is to significantly advance bone marrow transplantation and cell regeneration techniques, for the benefit of all patients with hematologic disorders.”
About PK MED
PK MED is a French biotechnology company, founded in 2019 by Truffle Capital, developing injectable smart implants for drug release in rheumatology and cell homing for bone marrow transplantation. PK MED's unique expertise and technological know-how enable evolving existing systemic treatments into new, safer and more effective patented local therapies.
PK MED has developed a portfolio of projects in indications where medical needs are high, starting with gout (PKM-01) and Hematopoietic Stem Cells transplants (PKM-02).