Company: LCTX
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-036309
Chunk: 23

Company: Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 23
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, the only approved treatments for RP are gene therapies which treat specific genetic defects that lead to RP. Our PNC1 program is aimed to replace damaged photoreceptors regardless of the cause of degeneration. 

15

Additional Research Programs

RND1

RND1 is a cell transplant candidate based on a novel hypoimmune iPSC cell line. RND1 is being developed in collaboration with our gene editing partner Factor Biosciences for the treatment of an undisclosed condition. We believe the hypoimmune iPSC cell line in development can provide a source of pluripotent cells for multiple product candidates in CNS diseases. 

In February 2023, we entered into an option and license agreement with Factor (as assigned from Eterna) to develop engineered hypoimmune iPSC line that we will evaluate for differentiation into cell transplant product candidates for CNS diseases and certain indications, including RND1. We believe this collaboration allows us to leverage our expertise by capitalizing our directed cell differentiation and manufacturing capabilities with externally-sourced ex vivo gene editing technology. This is reflective of a portion of our corporate strategy which aims to capitalize on our process development capabilities by combining them with cell engineering and editing technologies to produce novel cell therapies with potentially superior product profiles compared to currently marketed therapies, if any.

In September 2023, we announced the initiation of certain development activities to generate a novel iPSC line under our agreement with Factor and our selection of specific gene edits for the initial product candidate to be developed by Factor. The edits include: the targeted deletion of the B2M gene, designed to reduce the immunogenicity of product candidates derived from the lines by inhibiting rejection by CD8+ T cells; the targeted insertion of the HLA-E gene, designed to overexpress HLA-E and prevent the allogeneic NK cell response; and a third undisclosed edit intended to confer clinical differentiation and a competitive advantage in the applicable indications. We expect that these edits may expand the edited cell lines’ overall utility, including for non-immune privileged or non-human leukocyte antigen ("HLA") matched indications and may further differentiate the cell line from others currently in use by competitors. 

 Collaborations

To accelerate the discovery and advancement of transplanting specific cell types into the body, we have entered into, and intend to seek additional opportunities to form, collaborations with a diverse group of strategic partners. We have entered into collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies, academic laboratories, and research institutes with resources and expertise in diverse areas in an effort to advance our