LTKfarma (EVRY, France), a biopharmaceutical company founded in March 2006 and focused on developing and marketing cell therapy products derived from modified T-cells to treat autoimmune diseases (eg, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis) and leukemia announced its creation and the appointment of its advisory board.

LTKfarma develops products based on research by Professor David Klatzmann, director of the Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory for Immune Pathologies (CNRS/University of Pierre et Marie Curie) and head of the Biotherapy Center at the Pitié-La Salpêtrière Hospital, and his collaborators, and by Professor François Lemoine (Faculty of Medicine, University of Pierre et Marie Curie) and Dr. José Cohen (Inserm). LTKfarma's intellectual property portfolio is based on an exclusive, worldwide (Europe, US, and Japan) license to 31 patents and patent applications, granted by the University of Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI). LTKfarma's lead investigational product, TK54, is a cell therapy product based on modified T-cells and is currently in phase I/II study for bone marrow grafts. TK54 uses suicide gene technology and could reduce risks linked to graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), one of the main complications of allogeneic, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). T-cells are modified to express the gene encoding herpes virus thymidine kinase (TK). TK is able to convert ganciclovir into a derivative that is toxic to dividing cells, which then die. Thus, should GVHD occur, the patient is treated with ganciclovir. The company is moving forward to raise funds for phase II/III studies.

Members of LTKfarma's advisory board include the following:  Alain Clergeot, MD, Executive MBA/HEC (President of Chugai Pharma France); Tamara Joseph, LLM, JD (Executive Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Mayne Pharma Ltd, former General Counsel of Transkaryotic Therapeutics and former Vice-President of Biogen Idec); David Klatzmann, University Professor, MD, DSc (Director of the Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory for Immune Pathologies (CNRS/University of Pierre et Marie Curie), head of the Biotherapy Center at the Pitié-La Salpêtrière Hospital); Jean-François Labbé, HEC (former European President of Hoechst Marion Roussel and COO of ProStrakan); Laurent de Narbonne, MD, Executive MBA/HEC (General Manager of Octapharma France, Belgium and Luxemburg, former International Marketing Director at Biogen Idec, and formerly with Parke Davis France); and Leo van Wersch, DPharma, JD (former President of Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France and Vice-President Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Europe).