CytoMed Therapeutics

26/08/2026

iPSC therapies hit a new milestone: the first-ever Phase 3 trial 🧬

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), adult cells reprogrammed into a "become-anything" state, have spent years proving themselves in small, early trials. Now they're entering the big leagues. 🏟️

Cynata Therapeutics is running CYP-004, an iPSC-derived mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy for osteoarthritis, in a 440-patient Phase 3 trial. It's the first-ever Phase 3 study of an iPSC-derived cell therapy, and the largest iPSC therapeutic trial completed to date. 📈

Here's the clever part behind it. MSCs are prized for calming inflammation and supporting tissue repair, but harvesting them from donors gives limited, variable batches. Cynata's approach makes them from iPSCs instead, meaning a near-limitless, consistent supply manufactured from a single well-characterized cell line. 🔄

Why it matters: reaching Phase 3 is a maturity marker for any therapeutic class. It shows iPSC-derived treatments are moving from "promising science" toward scalable, standardized medicine, and osteoarthritis, affecting hundreds of millions worldwide, is a fitting stage for that leap. 🦵

🔗 https://bioinformant.com/ipsc-derived-cell-therapeutics/

While iPSCs are commonly used in drug discovery, we remain in the early stages of using iPSC-derived cell therapeutics in humans.

12/08/2026

CytoMed's patented gamma delta (γδ) T cells, derived from healthy donors, target cancer cells through multiple mechanisms.

This video animates 2 of the key ways γδ T cells kill cancer cells:

1. Release of perforin and granzymes. Perforin forms pores in the cancer cell membrane, allowing granzymes to enter and trigger apoptosis (programmed cell death).

2. Recruitment and activation of other immune cells. By secreting cytokines, γδ T cells bridge the innate and adaptive immune systems and help mobilise a broader anti-tumour response.

29/07/2026

How far iPSCs have come: making stem cells with chemistry, in just 10 days

🧬 Rewind to 2006: scientists first learned to turn ordinary adult cells back into stem cells — but it took inserting genes with viruses. Powerful, yet complex and hard to standardise.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the field has taken a striking leap. 🚀

A team led by Prof. Hongkui Deng (Peking University) has built a chemical reprogramming system — one that coaxes human cells back to a pluripotent, "can-become-anything" state using only small-molecule drugs, no genetic engineering at all.

Why that's a big deal:
✨ No genome tampering — nothing is permanently inserted into the DNA, sidestepping a key safety concern
⏱️ Fast — stem cells in as few as 10 days (the previous chemical method was far slower)
✅ Reliable — a 100% success rate across 15 different donors, including cell samples that used to resist reprogramming
💊 Manufacturable — small molecules are easy to synthesise and standardise, a natural fit for pharmaceutical-grade production

🔑 The clever part: the team pinpointed specific epigenetic "brakes" (enzymes called KAT3A/KAT3B and KAT6A) holding cells back — and releasing those brakes let cells shift smoothly toward the stem-cell state.

The bigger picture? The same chemically-made stem cells have already been turned into insulin-producing cells that helped a type 1 diabetes patient achieve sustained insulin independence. 🩺

From viral genes to a bottle of small molecules in under two decades — iPSC technology is becoming faster, safer, and more scalable, bringing the promise of personalised regenerative medicine closer to reality. 🌱

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-024-01799-8

15/07/2026

⚡ CAR-T therapy can put blood cancers into deep remission — but only if the cells survive long enough to do their job.

A 2026 review in Cytotherapy (Dr. Noriko Shimasaki) highlights a key idea: how long CAR-T cells last is largely decided before infusion, during manufacturing. 🏭

🧫 The core insight: younger, "memory" T cells (TSCM and TCM) renew themselves and persist far longer than burnt-out effector cells. The goal is to keep more of them.

How? Across the four manufacturing steps:
🩸 Source — collect cells before chemo, or use donor / cord-blood / iPSC-derived cells
🧪 Stimulation — swap IL-2 for IL-7 + IL-15 to keep cells "young"
✂️ Gene editing — switch off exhaustion genes (e.g. PD-1, TET2)
⏱️ Expansion — shorter culture (some now in 3–5 days, even 24h) = less burnout

🔁 A neat finding: CAR-T cells expand in two waves after infusion — early effectors (days 8–14), then long-lasting memory cells (days 21–28). The best products may need a deliberate balance of both.

This focus on persistence and smart manufacturing is exactly where CytoMed plays. 🧬 Our allogeneic, off-the-shelf CAR-gamma delta T cell therapy (CTM-N2D) — made from healthy-donor cells and targeting NKG2D ligands on cancer — is now in its first-in-human ANGELICA trial.

Read more here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1465324926007395

01/07/2026

🔬 A world first in regenerative medicine.

In February 2026, Japan authorised the world's first two therapies built from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) — adult cells reprogrammed back to a "blank-slate" state that can become almost any tissue in the body.

❤️ ReHeart (Cuorips): for severe heart failure — iPSCs grown into heart-muscle sheets and applied to a failing heart to boost blood supply.

🧠 Amchepry (Sumitomo Pharma): for Parkinson's — iPSCs turned into dopamine-producing neurons, aiming to restore what the disease destroys.

⏳ Nearly 20 years in the making: iPSCs were discovered in 2006 (a Nobel-winning breakthrough). Both therapies now have conditional approval while long-term data is collected.

💡 iPSCs have officially moved from lab bench to clinic — proof of just how much these reprogrammed cells can do.

It's the same starting point we build on at CytoMed: our iPSC-derived gamma delta Natural Killer T cells use this technology to create an off-the-shelf, allogeneic source of cancer-fighting immune cells. 🧬 Japan's milestone is an encouraging sign for the whole field.

Read more here: https://bioinformant.com/ipsc-therapies-make-history-japan-authorizes-worlds-first-two-ipsc-based-cell-therapies/

Recently, the world witnessed the approval of the world’s first two iPSC-derived medicines, as Japan’s health ministry panel authorized their commercialization on February 19, 2026. The approved therapies are ReHeart, developed by Cuorips Inc., a regenerative medicine company spun out of researc...

18/06/2026

🔬 How CAR-T Cell Therapy Is Changing Cancer Treatment

Cancer treatment has come a long way, and one of the most exciting advances in recent years is CAR-T cell therapy.

A recent article from Business Insider highlights how CAR-T works by harnessing a patient's own immune system to fight cancer. T cells are collected, genetically modified to better recognize cancer cells, and then infused back into the patient to seek and destroy those targets.

📖 Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-car-t-cell-therapy-can-help-treat-certain-cancers

What makes CAR-T therapy so promising?

✅ It uses the body's own immune cells to target cancer.
✅ It has shown remarkable success in certain blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma.
✅ It represents a new generation of "living medicines" that continue working after infusion.
✅ Ongoing research is expanding its potential into additional cancer types and disease areas.

While challenges such as manufacturing complexity, cost, and effectiveness in solid tumors remain, continued innovation is helping move the field forward.

At CytoMed Therapeutics, we are part of this broader movement in cellular immunotherapy. While our focus is on allogeneic γδ T-cell therapies, the progress seen across CAR-T and other immune cell platforms reinforces the tremendous potential of cell-based therapies to transform patient care.

The future of cancer treatment may not lie in attacking cancer directly, but in empowering the immune system to do what it does best.

CAR T-cell therapy genetically alters a patient's immune cells to fight certain cancers like lymphoma and leukemia.

27/05/2026

19/05/2026

🌟 Meet CytoMed Therapeutics & The Longevity Bank at IWE 2026! 🌟

We are excited to announce that CytoMed Therapeutics and The Longevity Bank will be participating in the International Wellness Expo 2026 at KLCC, Kuala Lumpur!

📍 Booth: 7E08
📅 Date: 20th – 22nd May 2026
⏰ Time: 9.00 AM – 6.00 PM

Join us to learn more about the future of cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and innovations shaping the healthcare landscape. Our team will be there to share insights on our work, answer your questions, and connect with fellow innovators, healthcare enthusiasts, and members of the public.

Whether you are curious about advanced therapeutics, healthy longevity, or the future of biotechnology, we would love to meet you!

See you at KLCC! 👋

13/05/2026

🔬 What Does Japan’s iPSC Approval Mean for the Future of Cell Therapy?

Japan has approved a new iPSC-based therapy, marking a major step forward for regenerative medicine and bringing platforms like Cynata’s into focus.

👉 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/stockhead/content/japans-milestone-ipsc-approval-puts-cynatas-platform-in-spotlight/news-story/2006b8a1cf7763a91643a03160c667da

So what exactly are iPSCs?

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been reprogrammed back into a stem cell-like state. This means they can be turned into many different types of cells in the body, from immune cells to tissue-specific cells.

What makes them particularly exciting:

They can be expanded from a single source, enabling large-scale, consistent manufacturing
They reduce reliance on donor variability, improving reproducibility across treatments
They support the development of off-the-shelf therapies that can be stored and used when needed

This approval is more than just a regulatory milestone. It reflects growing confidence in iPSC-based platforms and signals a broader shift toward scalable, standardised cell therapies.

For companies like CytoMed Therapeutics, this trend is highly relevant. As the industry moves beyond patient-specific approaches, allogeneic strategies and GMP-ready manufacturing will be key to making advanced therapies more accessible.

iPSC technologies, alongside immune cell platforms like γδ T cells, are helping shape a future where cell therapy is not just effective, but also scalable and widely available.