Dominique Stump
The Defense Department has awarded Capricor Therapeutics a $2.4 million grant to develop a process to produce cardiosphere-derived cell exosomes.
Capricor said Monday it plans to file an investigational new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration in 2017 for the use of CAP-2003 to treat ocular graft-versus-host disease.
“As we advance and expand our exosomes program, this grant from the DoD will support our objective of achieving a commercial manufacturing process for a candidate which we believe has broad treatment potential,” said Linda Marban, Capricor president and CEO.
“As a cell-free material, CAP-2003 can be handled and stored in similar fashion to a traditional biopharmaceutical,” Marban added.
CAP-2003 vesicles have been isolated from Capricor’s proprietary cardiosphere-derived cells, which the company currently evaluates as a potential treatment for heart diseases associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
