MaxCyte Signs B Cell Platform Agreement with Walking Fish Therapeutics

MaxCyte signed a strategic platform license (SPL) with Walking Fish Therapeutics which focuses on B cell-based therapeutics. Walking Fish obtains non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation^® technology and ExPERT™ platform. In return, MaxCyte is entitled to receive platform licensing fees, clinical milestone payments and sales-based payments.

“We are delighted to partner with Walking Fish to help advance their B cell platform and support their innovative approach to develop novel therapies for the treatment of serious diseases,” said Doug Doerfler, president and CEO of MaxCyte.

Walking Fish is a privately held biotechnology company discovering and developing therapeutics that harness the power of B cells as protein factories and immune modulators. Walking Fish has created a technology platform addressing enzyme replacement therapies, cancer, autoimmune disease, and recombinant antibody production. Walking Fish’s first program, WFX-001, employs B cells as protein factories to generate a deficient enzyme in Fabry disease.

MaxCyte’s ExPERT instrument portfolio is an electroporation technology for scalable cell engineering, according to the company. Walking Fish is MaxCyte’s 20th strategic partnership overall, each of which generates pre-commercial milestone revenue and the vast majority of which include sales-based payments, noted Doerfler.

“Walking Fish draws its inspiration from the remarkable regenerative capacity of the Axolotl, colloquially known as a Walking Fish,” notes the company website.