Bonus BioGroup (TASE: BONS) is a clinical-stage Israeli biotechnology company, engaged in research and development of biomedical tissue-engineered and cell therapy products.
Bonus Biogroup is delighted to announce the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with St. Catherine's Hospital in Zagreb, Croatia, on February 23, 2023. St. Catherine's Hospital [1] is one of Europe's foremost centers for research and application of personalized medicine, sports medicine, and the development and application of advanced treatments for orthopedic and other indications (hereinafter referred to as "Cooperation Agreement"). By partnering with St. Catherine's Hospital, Bonus Biogroup joins an elite group of global health organizations collaborating with the Croatian institution, including the renowned Mayo Clinic in the US.
Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, the parties plan to conduct advanced-stage clinical trials for Bonus Biogroup's technologies and products, including BonoFill, a live, tissue-engineered bone graft, and MesenCure, a cell therapy for severe COVID-19 patients and other inflammatory conditions. Additionally, the agreement facilitates joint training, education, and knowledge exchange activities, fostering the development of new collaborative projects to enhance human health.
The collaboration may allow Bonus Biogroup to conduct clinical trials at St. Catherine's and other hospitals in Europe and the United States that maintain partnerships with the Croatian institution. Consequently, this would expedite the clinical development of the Company's products.
The agreement was signed in Haifa at the new Bonus Biogroup Center by Prof. Dragan Primorac, Chairman of the Hospital and former Minister of Science, Education, and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, in the presence of the Croatian Ambassador to Israel, Ms. Vesela M. Korac. The signing followed a four-day visit to Israel, during which Prof. Primorac met with senior government and industry officials and scientists to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in tissue engineering and cellular medicine. The goal is to develop and implement innovative, advanced medical technologies in Israel and Croatia.
Prof. Primorac commented, "The signing of the cooperation agreement represents a significant milestone in advancing technology and medicine in Israel and Croatia. It exemplifies how friendship and scientific excellence can join forces to introduce groundbreaking innovations to the medical field. We are eager to embark on this collaborative journey. We are confident that our partnership with Bonus Biogroup, and through it, the collaboration between Israel, Croatia, and the rest of Europe, will yield treatments that can potentially transform the lives of seriously ill patients across Europe and around the world."
Bonus Biogroup – the Company
Since its inception, Bonus BioGroup has been involved in cellular medicine and tissue engineering. To date, the Company has two products in clinical development: BonoFill - a viable human bone graft for the regeneration and reconstruction of bone tissue, and MesenCure - a cell therapy for acute inflammation, including acute respiratory distress in severe COVID patients. In addition, the Company has a variety of other technologies and products in preclinical development.
The main building block utilized to produce BonoFill bone graft is mesenchymal cells extracted from the patient's adipose tissue. Alongside the development of BonoFill, the Company developed a cell therapy based on mesenchymal cells isolated from adipose tissue of healthy donors that are professionalized to enhance their ability to counteract acute inflammation, including cytokine storms prevalent in COVID patients and other diseases. These efforts led to the development of the professionalized cell therapy product MesenCure.
In light of the Company's demonstration of the efficacy of MesenCure in treating severe COVID patients, the Company has expanded its efforts to examine the potential of MesenCure to treat other conditions involving systemic inflammations and multi-organ injuries. Such conditions include cytokine release syndrome caused by biological therapies or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In developing its drug products, Bonus BioGroup uses unique technologies and knowledge developed in-house. The Company's rich intellectual property, including seven families of patents and patent applications, encompasses thirty-eight (38) approved patents and seventeen (17) patent applications in many countries worldwide.
BonoFill – a viable human bone graft
Bone deficiencies can result from various causes, including aging, infections, arthritis accompanied by bone loss, trauma (accident or fall), and tumors. Bonus Biogroup develops viable human bone grafts based on cells sampled from the patient (autologous tissue). Growing bone grafts outside the patient's body allow their on-demand manufacturing to provide effective bone grafts for various medical conditions involving bone loss, including oral and maxillofacial surgery, cranial surgery, orthopedic surgery, and plastic surgery.
MesenCure cell therapy
The cell therapy MesenCure consists of professionalized mesenchymal cells. MesenCure is designed to treat acute inflammations and subsequent conditions. These conditions may include life-threatening pneumonia and respiratory distress, whether caused by the coronavirus, any other virus or bacterial infection, or whether caused by other conditions underlined by a hyperactive immune system. The efficacy of MesenCure, as demonstrated in the clinical trial for treating severe COVID patients, is presumably attributed to the professionalization of the mesenchymal cells comprising MesenCure. This professionalization enhances the cells' natural ability to attenuate the inflammation and cytokine storm, which, without MesenCure, could lead to life-threatening multi-organ damage. Furthermore, the cells comprising the drug product MesenCure affect inflammation and cytokine storm through various mechanisms. Therefore, MesenCure may have a broader and more robust effect on diverse populations of patients than drugs acting via a single mechanism.
Company estimations regarding forward-looking statements
Bonus BioGroup's assessments regarding the medical effect and/or commercial potential of its products and/or the resulting economic opportunities, and the Company's ability to continue the process of their development, including conducting studies, and arriving at a product that can be medically applied in humans, for the duration and expected dates to perform any stage in any experiment and publish its results and obtain regulatory approvals for marketing the product, are forward-looking statements, as defined by the Securities Law of 1968, which are based on the Company's estimates and on the information in its possession at the time of reporting.
There is no certainty that these estimates will materialize, in whole or in part, among others, due to dependence on the actions of third parties, which are not under the Company's control, on the development of future cancer therapies, on future studies results, if any, due to the possibility of delay in obtaining approval from relevant authorities and/or change in the relevant conditions and/or feasibility tests that the Company may conduct and/or delay in performing studies and/or need to perform further experiments and/or failure of experiments and/or technological changes and/or the development and/or marketing of similar and/or more efficient competing products and/or the lack of resources and/or the realization of any of the risk factors associated with the research and/or studies and/or its results.
Sincerely,
Bonus Biogroup Ltd.
By: Yossi Rauch (Chairman of the Board) and Dr. Shai Meretzki (CEO and Director)