Shares of Beverly Hills-based biotech firm Capricor Inc. surged April 29 following the company’s announcement that it has reached a licensing deal for its exosome technology with Johns Hopkins University.
Under the deal, Capricor will continue to develop it exosome platform for therapeutics. That technology was developed in part by Stephen Gould, a researcher at Johns Hopkins who has been serving as a consultant to Capricor.
The licensing deal with Johns Hopkins clears the way for Capricor to continue to develop this line of therapeutics by avoiding any dispute down the road over who should receive revenue for any drugs using this technology that gain approval for marketing and distribution from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and similar agencies in other countries.
Financial terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed, but shares of thinly traded Capricor stock shot up 15% on the news, closing April 29 at $4.54.
“This exclusive license agreement with Johns Hopkins University allows Capricor to continue the expansion of our engineered exosome platform technology,” Linda Marban, Capricor’s chief executive, said in the announcement. “We are focused on developing this platform to deliver nucleic acids or proteins effectively into cells and drive the expression of functional proteins. We believe that this new platform technology has the ability to expand into disease areas of high unmet medical need.”
Exosomes are the body’s own drug delivery vehicle; they are formed in separate compartments within human cells. They can transmit signals and RNA molecules to human cells; that function can also be used to transmit engineered therapeutics to the interior of cells. This technique is now being adapted by many pharmaceutical companies to boost the cellular transmission rates for their drug therapies.
Capricor has been using this technology to develop drugs to treat a range of diseases; its leading drug candidate provides therapy for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive disorder found primarily in children that causes muscles to become weaker over time.
