PROVIDENCE – Ocean Biomedical and Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. announced the discovery of a therapy that could potentially kill glioblastoma and melanoma cells – two types of cancerous cells – and block the spread of these cells to the lungs.
The company discovered antibodies that can target both CHI3L1, a regulator of a series of cancer-causing pathways, and ICPI, immune checkpoint inhibitors.
“Bispecific antibodies that simultaneously target CHI3L1 and ICPI like PD-1 and/or CTLA4 have an impressive and synergic ability to induce tumor cell death and prevent tumor metastasis compared to individual antibody moieties,” said Dr. Jack A. Elias, founder of the Scientific Advisory Board and dean emeritus of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University.
“With our discovery that CHI3L1 is a critical regulator of a number of key cancer-causing pathways by highlighting its ability to inhibit tumor cell death (apoptosis), this therapy has the potential to save thousands of lives of people affected from NSCLC and GBM,” said Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, co-founder and executive chairman of Ocean Biomedical.
The results are based on studies conducted in laboratories and on animals, not on human patients.
The Providence-based biopharma company recently announced it has entered a merger agreement with special purpose acquisition company Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp., which is expected to be complete by the end of 2022. Ocean Biomedical will then become a subsidiary of Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. and the combined company will be renamed Ocean Biomedical Inc.
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
