On Jan. 29, 2020, Sorrento Therapeutics announced it had initiated a clinical and manufacturing collaboration with Celularity, a Warren, New Jersey, based clinical-stage cell therapeutics company delivering transformative allogeneic cellular therapies derived from the postpartum human placenta. The objective of the collaboration was to expand the therapeutic use of Celularity’s CYNK-001, an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, placental-derived Natural Killer (NK) cell therapy, to the treatment and prevention of coronavirus infections.

NK cells are the foundation of the natural innate immune response. NK cells derived from the placenta are well tolerated, intrinsically safe and versatile, allowing potential uses across a range of organs and tissues. NK cell therapy is currently being investigated as a treatment for various liquid and solid tumors, but also has the demonstrated potential to be effective against virally infected cells.

Under the contemplated collaboration, Sorrento and Celularity would assess CYNK-001 as a potential novel therapy for the treatment and prevention of coronaviruses, focusing in particular on the newly emerged 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In addition, Sorrento would utilize current existing capacity in its “state-of-the-art” cGMP cell therapy manufacturing facilities in San Diego, California, to supplement Celularity’s new cGMP facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. The combined capacity would support the rapid scale-up and sustained production of the novel cell therapy.