The grant was awarded under Vinnova’s call “Using infrastructures for innovation in life science,” following review by an independent expert panel. Vinnova said the project had “high potential to strengthen national capacity in cell therapy and create strategically important infrastructure for continued commercialization,” and pointed to the feasibility of the project plan, the strength of the collaborations, and the competence of the project team.

Mendus and NorthX Biologics established a large-scale manufacturing collaboration for vididencel in 2023. They will now extend it to produce memory NK cells from healthy donors using Mendus’ proprietary DCOne technology. Donor-derived memory NK cells are being evaluated for therapeutic use in AML patients after stem cell transplantation. The project is separate from vididencel, Mendus’ lead candidate in myeloid blood cancers, but it broadens the company’s immunotherapy strategies in AML.

“We are pleased that Vinnova has recognized both the strategic importance and the potential impact of this initiative,” says Erik Manting, CEO, Mendus. “Establishing manufacturing of donor-derived memory NK cells can create future opportunities to address medical needs in AML, particularly after stem cell transplantation, where we have not positioned vididencel. We look forward to taking our potentially leading NK cell program into the next development phase.”

Natural killer cells help identify and eliminate cancer cells. A subset known as memory, or adaptive, NK cells has shown stronger and more durable anti-tumor activity, and their presence after allogeneic stem cell transplantation has been associated with a lower risk of relapse.