CEO Vered Caplan says the move would enable the development and delivery of cell and gene therapies onsite at HYGEIA's hospitals in Greece

Inc (), a developer of advanced cell therapies, revealed Friday that it struck a strategic partnership agreement between the Theracell joint venture and the large HYGEIA Group which runs three hospitals in Greece.

In a statement, the Germantown, Maryland-based company said that under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will implement point-of-care cell therapy platform for clinical development and commercialization of cell and gene therapies within the HYGEIA Groups network of hospitals in Greece.

and TheraCell Advanced Biotechnology earlier formed a joint venture to advance point-of-care platform in Greece, the Balkan region and some Middle Eastern countries.

The point-of-care platform is designed to collect, process and supply cells within the patient care setting for various treatments.

The main goal is to reduce the cost and complexity of supplying cell and gene therapies, said , as well as boostquality by integrating automated processing units and proprietary technologies.

Significantly, HYGEIA is the first hospital network in the region to implement Orgenesis point-of-care cell therapy platform. The partnership aims to provide the HYGEIA Group with resources to advance clinical development and deliver personalized, advanced therapies across its network for a range of diseases in oncology, hematology, orthopedics, nephrology, dermatology and diabetes.

This partnership with the HYGEIA Group further validates the significant value proposition of our point-of-care platform, as it enables the development and delivery of cell and gene therapies onsite at hospitals, said Orgenesis CEO Vered Caplan.

We believe this platform has the potential to transform the cell and gene therapy market, by bringing life-saving therapies to market in a much more time and cost-effective manner, she added.

The Orgenesis boss said Theracell had proved to be an ideal partner with extensive experience and capabilities in autologous cell therapy and regenerative medicine, and strong operations in Greece and relationships in the region.

We are in active discussions to establish PoCare locations and partnerships with hospitals and healthcare networks in other countries and regions across the world, said Caplan.

Greeces HYGEIA Group operates three hospitals with a capacity of 1,261 beds, 52 operating rooms, 19 delivery rooms and 10 intensive care units.

HYGEIA Group CEO Andreas Kartapanis said thanks to the partnership with Theracell and Orgenesis it would be the first hospital network in Greece to provide advanced cell and gene therapies.

We believe this partnership will provide us a strong competitive advantage in this rapidly developing field. More importantly, this partnership will benefit patients that will now have greater access to these important therapies, said Kartapanis.

For the fiscal third quarter ended September 30, Orgenesis generated meaningful revenue, over $1 million, through its rapidly advancing point-of-care cellular therapy platform.

Meanwhile, TheraCell has experience in the isolation, processing and application of adipose-derived stem cells, as well as somatic cells. It has developed a patented platform for tissue engineering and cell therapies in the areas of dermatology, articular cartilage defects, and chronic kidney injury.

Contact Uttara Choudhury at[emailprotected]

Follow her onTwitter:@UttaraProactive

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Orgenesis and Theracell to launch point-of-care cell and gene therapy centers in HYGEIA Group"s hospitals - Proactive Investors USA & Canada