August 8, 2019
NEW YORK — LineaRx said today that it has acquired the assets and intellectual property of Vitatex, a developer of invasive circulating tumor cell (iCTC) analysis technologies.
According to LineaRx — an Applied DNA Sciences subsidiary formed around technologies for DNA design, manufacture, and chemical modification by large scale PCR — Vitatex’s technologies allows iCTCs to be isolated from standard blood samples. These cells can then be cultured and challenged against panels of cancer therapies to help personalize treatments, such as CAR T immunotherapies, for specific patients.
Following the acquisition, LineaRx said that it will work with other companies to enhance their cancer assays, generate personalized redirected cell therapies against cancers with high mutation burdens and metastatic potential, out-license Vitatex’s technologies for use in early cancer diagnostics and prognostics, and design synthetic genes to redirect immune cells against antigens that are recognized by leukocytes that comigrate with iCTCs. It also aims to develop therapeutics that use its proprietary DNA manufacturing methods.
