MEDIA CENTER
February 23, 2023
Case Western Reserve University completes exclusive license agreement with Atlanta-based RORA Biologics Inc. for cancer and HIV therapy technologies
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) has completed an exclusive license agreement with Atlanta-based RORA Biologics Inc. (RORA-Bio) for intellectual property to develop new therapies to treat HIV and certain kinds of cancer.
The agreement gives RORA-Bio exclusive international rights to T-cell memory stem-cell (RORA cells) technologies developed by Rafick Sekaly, formerly a professor at the CWRU School of Medicine, and co-director of the Center for AIDS Research Proteomics and Systems Biology Core.
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February 22, 2023
Rafick Sékaly (CSO), Ashish Sharma (VP, Clin Opps) and colleagues are presenting a late breaking abstract entitled “Single Infusion of Stem-like CCR5-modified CD4+ T-cells Provide Long-Term HIV Control” at the 2023 Conference on Retroviruses & Opportunistic Infections (CROI, Feb 16-22, Seattle).
In related work, they and colleagues reported that expansion of a newly identified subset of CD4+ T stem cell memory cells (“RORA cells”) persisted in patients long-term and correlated with improvement in control of HIV replication (Zeidan, J et al; bioRxIv 2021.02.28.433290).
RORA Biologics is developing RORA cells as a platform from which to make novel “living” drugs that may eventually be used to treat certain cancers and help people living with HIV.
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October 1, 2022
Atlanta, Georgia – RORA Biologics, Inc., (“RORABio”) a pre-clinical stage company developing first-in-class T-cell platform for targeting indications across cancer and infectious diseases, today announces the appointment of the following experts to our Scientific Advisory Board: Dr. Poul Sørensen (Chair), Dr. Madhav Dhodopkar and Dr. Andy Glasebrook.
Dr. Sørensen has decades of pharma and biotech experience and is currently a partner and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at ArgoBio Studio (Paris, FR). He is also a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Allero Therapuetics (Rotterdam, NL) and holds the title of Honorary Professor in Biomedicine at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Dr. Dhodopkar is the Anise McDaniel Brock Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cancer Innovation and Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. He also serves as director of the Winship Center for Cancer Immunology, and as leader of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute. Dr. Dhodapkar specializes in the treatment of multiple myeloma and other hematological malignancies.
Dr. Glasebrook brings decades of research and drug development experience at Eli Lilly & Co. Andy is recognized for his contributions to drug discovery efforts in autoimmunity and osteoporosis that resulted in advancing numerous drug candidates from preclinical discovery to clinical evaluation and launch. Dr. Glasebrook established a research team of more than 20 scientists at the San Diego Lilly Biotechnology Center. He is a Past-President of the Inflammation Research Association, a named inventor on 9 issued US patents and co-author of 100 scientific publications.
Randy Berholtz, CEO of RORA Biologics commented: “I am delighted and honored to have such accomplished experts join our team. Poul, Madhav and Andy will provide us with expert advice and guidance that will be critical to moving RORABio forward”.