Century Therapeutics, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cell therapies in immune-oncology, and FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc., a global developer and manufacturer of human iPSCs and iPSC-derived cells, entered into a new worldwide license agreement and expansion of existing licenses for the development and commercialization of cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The new licenses expand on the companies’ existing collaboration initiated in 2018 for iPSC-derived cancer immunotherapeutics.

Under the terms of the agreements, FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics will be eligible to receive certain development and regulatory milestone payments as well as royalties related to products developed in connection with the companies’ agreements.

“Leveraging our proprietary Allo-Evasion technology, we believe we are uniquely positioned to develop differentiated, effective cell therapies that can be re-dosed to potentially deliver effective levels of drug exposure and immunologic pressure not only for the treatment of cancer, but also for immunologic diseases with high unmet need,” said Hy Levitsky, president of R&D, Century Therapeutics. “These agreements enable further evaluation of Century’s iPSC-derived NK, T cell, and monocyte/macrophage platforms.”

Tomoyuki Hasegawa, President and CEO FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc. said, “As a global leader in the field of iPSCs, we are pleased to expand our partnership with Century as they seek to develop new and transformative allogeneic cell therapies for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases. FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics supported Century Therapeutics in the manufacturing of CNTY-101 and we look forward to expanding our manufacturing partnership to address autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. We are committed to ensuring that iPSC-derived therapeutics realize their full potential, and we look forward to supporting Century Therapeutics’ progress.”