Crown Bioscience Expands PDX Collection with Acquisition of Unique Models from Leading Academic Medical Centers

Agreements with CoMotion at the University of Washington and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute add new prostate cancer and lymphoma models to the world’s largest PDX collection

San Diego, Calif – April 02, 2020 — Crown Bioscience today announced the strategic expansion of their PDX collection through new agreements with CoMotion at the University of Washington and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. These agreements will provide highly needed prostate cancer and lymphoma models, respectively, to the oncology drug development community.

PDX models are the most translatable preclinical in vivo models currently available and are the model of choice for preclinical oncology drug discovery and development. However, certain PDXs can be difficult to derive from specific indications, including prostate cancer, while other clinically relevant mutations are underrepresented within current PDX collections.

CrownBio’s license with CoMotion at the University of Washington will significantly expand the number of prostate cancer PDX models available to the market. Augmenting CrownBio’s established prostate cancer PDX collection, this new panel of LuCaP PDXs will provide a broad range of clinically relevant models, including difficult to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer, PDX with resistance to targeted agents such as abiraterone and enzalutamide, and models with disease relevant androgen receptor expression profiles including Arv7.

The collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will in turn bring a wide variety of lymphomas to CrownBio’s portfolio, including T/NK, mantle cell, and follicular lymphomas, as well as DLBCL from refractory or relapsed patients. Models featuring common drug targets are also included, such as brain cancer PDX with IDH1 mutations and NSCLC SCC PDX featuring receptor tyrosine kinase alterations essential to targeted drug discovery.

“Through these exciting agreements we’re able to provide well-characterized PDX to research areas where more models were greatly needed,” said Dr. Davy Ouyang, Vice President, Scientific Research & Innovation of CrownBio. “CrownBio is well established as the global leader in PDX technology, and our collection of Western models will be significantly strengthened through these additions, allowing our global customer base greater access to the latest cutting-edge models.”

The new models will now be expanded in-house at CrownBio, biobanked, and characterized, before being made available for a variety of oncology and immuno-oncology studies. This includes efficacy assessment, mouse clinical trials, CAR-T cell therapy assessment, humanization, and organoid development.

Ranked by Reuters as the #1 most innovative public university in the world, the University of Washington (UW) is a leading recipient of federal funding research, producing innovations that have the power to change the world—from biofuel alternatives, to more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and brain cancer, to purification technology for drinking water in the developing world. CoMotion at the UW is the collaborative innovation hub dedicated to expanding the global economic and societal impact of the UW community. By developing and connecting to local and global innovation ecosystems, CoMotion helps innovators achieve the greatest impact from their ideas and discoveries.

Find more information at https://comotion.uw.edu.

Media Enquiries:

Crown Bioscience

Jody Barbeau

Crown Bioscience Inc.

pr@crownbio.com

CoMotion at the University of Washington

Donna O’Neill

donnao3@uw.edu