Porton Advanced, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), is pleased to announce its partnership with TongEye Medical Technology (TongEYE), an innovator focusing on cell therapy drugs for ophthalmic diseases. Porton Advanced will provide comprehensive CDMO services to support iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium cell (RPEC) therapy program, including CMC development and IND application assistance, to accelerate the therapy development progress.

The iPSC-RPEC transplantation therapy has demonstrated significant potential in addressing blinding eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). TongEYE has established highly efficient and proprietary induction method for differentiation through pioneering work in retinal disease mechanisms and innovative therapies. This collaboration leverages Porton Advanced's extensive expertise in iPSC and cell therapy to provide end-to-end CDMO services encompassing iPSC reprogramming and cell banking, process optimization for RPE-directed differentiation, GMP manufacturing of RPE cells, rigorous quality studies, and IND application support.

"We are pleased to partner with Porton Advanced, a leading CDMO with proven track records," said Dr. Guo-Tong Xu, Founder and Chief Scientist of TongEYE. "Their CDMO capabilities and project experience in iPSC will significantly accelerate our ophthalmic cell therapy development program to benefit patients sooner."

Andrew Chen, CFO of Porton Advanced, commented: "TongEYE's R&D team has developed a robust RPE differentiation method and the products have been showing safety and functionality in preclinical studies. Through this collaboration, we will combine our iPSC-CMC expertise with their innovative platform to overcome key technical challenges in iPSC-based therapy development. Porton Advanced will integrate the international R&D expertise and rigorous quality systems and provide comprehensive support to advance this promising treatment globally."