- Cell Vault, the world’s first t-cell bank, announced it raised $1 million in an initial round of funding from Silicon Valley investors.
Cell Vault — the world’s first t-cell bank — announced it has raised $1 million in an initial round of funding. And the early investment in Cell Vault comes from Silicon Valley investors who share in the vision of t-cell cryopreservation as a tool in the fight against cancer.
“We see the future for CAR T-cell therapy to combat many kinds of cancers in addition to those currently approved by the FDA. Cell Vault is giving people the ability to preserve and bank healthy, strong t-cells for future cancer treatment,” said Cell Vault founder Kevin A. Kirk. “This initial round of funding marks an important milestone – these therapies, and future treatments, are now more accessible to patients who bank their healthy t-cells with Cell Vault before cancer strikes.”
Cell Vault is developed from the same technology used for freezing eggs and bank cord blood. And the technology allows people to preserve the strongest version of their blood cells with a simple blood draw. Plus Cell Vault “banks” or cryopreserves peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). And the purpose of the banking process is to ensure some of the strongest and most viable cells are available as a resource for future cancer treatment should it ever be necessary.
“We are in the critical early stages with this technology,” said Parameswaran Hari, MD — Cell Vault Advisor and Chief of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin. “CAR T-cell therapy is still in early development but will be a household concept in the next few years. Right now, this therapy is approved for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, but hundreds of trials are currently underway to get it approved for a host of other diseases such as Breast Cancer.” These other diseases are said to include, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma and ovarian cancer which are seeing encouraging results in clinical trials.
T-cells are a component of the immune system that attacks cellular abnormalities. And Dr. Hari has described T-cells as the “cellular army of the immune system.” CAR T-cell therapy removes T-cells from the body, modifies them, and puts them back in the body “supercharged” to go after cellular mutations.
CAR T-cells therapy is “living therapy” that permanently works to detect and attack cancer unlike conventional chemotherapy. This year, 75,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. And many find that they need to use their t-cells in CAR-T therapy treatment to ultimately beat their cancer. T-cells not only decrease in number and deteriorate as you age, but they are negatively impacted through traditional chemotherapy treatments. Banking healthy T-cells now gives patients peace of mind of knowing they have an extra arsenal in a future battle with cancer.
How does Cell Vault work? Cell Vault clients order a kit online, schedule an in-home or in-office blood draw, a mobile phlebotomist completes the draw, and sends the collected sample to the Cell Vault lab. The sample is processed and frozen using liquid nitrogen. And it is stored in perpetuity. Cell Vault partnered with some of the nation’s top CAR-T therapy doctors, the country’s largest mobile phlebotomy company, and the USA’s leading FDA-registered and CLIA certified lab to help their clients facilitate successful cell banking and deliver unparalleled service.
