Multiverse Investment Fund Portfolio Company Begins Clinical Trials to Treat Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ARDS has been identified as the leading cause of COVID-19-related fatalities; in preclinical studies, Orbsen Therapeutics’ proprietary ORBCEL cellular therapy demonstrated the ability to mitigate the effects of ARDS by improving lung oxygenation, lessening inflammation, reducing edema and decreasing bacterial infection
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire – Addressing the finding that most fatalities from COVID-19 are caused by the nonreversible development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP, a private venture capital fund dedicated to long-term capital investment in companies offering significant social impact, today announces that one of its 12 portfolio companies, Orbsen Therapeutics, has been awarded a special dispensation by the government of England to initiate clinical trials of its proprietary cellular therapy, ORBCEL, to treat ARDS patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
Jack Kavanaugh, a general manager of Multiverse Investment Fund and chairman of Orbsen Therapeutics, stated, “We are incredibly proud of Orbsen’s achievements and the team’s involvement in working to expedite solutions to help prevent deaths from COVID-19.”
In applying ORBCEL’s proprietary cellular therapy, Orbsen is striving to treat ARDS by intercepting and preventing the damage caused by the body’s immune reaction to an infection – in this case, COVID-19. ARDS is a response in the body to the sepsis and infection that occur in the lungs as a result of COVID-19, causing damage to the walls of the air sacs in the lungs. To date, there has been no successful treatment for ARDS. Nearly 90 percent of deaths caused by COVID-19 are the result of ARDS.
Orbsen’s ORBCEL recently completed a successful Phase 1 trial in patients with moderate to severe ARDS. In preclinical studies, ORBCEL, a next-generation stromal cell immunotherapy, demonstrated the ability to mitigate the devastating effects of ARDS by improving lung oxygenation, lessening inflammation, reducing edema and decreasing bacterial infection.
“We believe ORBCEL will prove a valuable addition to the arsenal of therapies to combat the effects of COVID-19,” said Dr. Larry Couture, CEO of Orbsen Therapeutics.
The upcoming Phase 2a clinical trial, funded by the Wellcome Trust, has been approved by the United Kingdom’s Medical Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The UK’s National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) has also designated the trial as a National Urgent Public Health Study.
“While more than 100 vaccines and therapies targeting COVID-19 are in development, there are no disease-modifying therapies approved for ARDS,” said Dr. Steve Elliman, chief scientific officer at Orbsen. “We take seriously NIHR’s designation of this trial as an Urgent Public Health Research Study and believe ORBCEL has the potential to be a timely and effective treatment for patients with ARDS.”
As the founder, chairman and CEO of ZetaRx Biosciences, which later became the core of Juno Therapeutics, Dr. Jack Kavanaugh is a pioneer in bringing advanced cellular therapies to market. He is credited with successfully combining the intellectual property from globally recognized health care and research institutions, assembling a highly respected management team, and leading the development of the FDA clinical trial strategy – resulting in immunotherapies that have shown great promise in terminal cancer remission, and actually reported the best results ever in the treatment of terminal cancer. Juno Therapeutics was purchased in 2018 by Cellgene for enterprise value of $10.1 Billion.
About Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP
Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP (“Multiverse,” or the “Fund”) is a private venture capital fund that invests in early-, developmental- and clinical-stage companies in the life science, materials science and technology sectors. Multiverse’s mission is to achieve long-term capital appreciation through investments in profound opportunities and, as a general proposition, in companies building products with the potential to produce a positive and significant social impact. For more information, please visit the Multiverse website at https://www.multiverseinvestmentfund.com/.
About Orbsen Therapeutics
Orbsen Therapeutics, Ltd. is a leading company in the development of cellular immunotherapies across four immune-mediated inflammatory conditions. The company was founded in 2006 and is a privately held company led by global leaders in the field of cellular immunotherapy. The company, which spun out from Ireland’s Regenerative Medicine Institute at the National University of Ireland Galway, has developed proprietary technologies that enable the isolation of a well-characterized population of pure stromal cells from human tissues, which, once isolated, can be expanded and frozen to generate multiple doses of an “off the shelf” therapeutic product. For more information, visit http://www.orbsentherapeutics.com.
Media Contact:
Bobbie Wasserman
bobbie@wave2alliances.com
917-747-6879
No investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, or legal advice is provided by Multiverse Fund I GP, LLC through this press release, and no person is authorized to use this press release for those purposes. Therefore, this press release is not a recommendation to invest in any Multiverse Fund I GP, LLC investment strategy or buy or sell interests (“interests”) in Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP (the “Fund”) or Orbsen Therapeutics, Ltd. or any other portfolio or other company). Prospective investors should conduct their own investigations in relation to the matters referred to in this press release and are recommended to consult their own advisers in relation to such matters. This press release is not an offer to sell securities of the Fund, Orbsen Therapeutics, Inc. or a solicitation of offers to buy any such securities. Securities of the Fund are offered to selected investors only by means of a complete offering memorandum and related subscription materials which contain significant additional information about the terms of an investment in the Fund (such documents, the “Offering Documents”). Any decision to invest must be based solely upon the information set forth in the Offering documents, regardless of any information investors may have been otherwise furnished, including this presentation.
Some of the statements in this press release may be forward-looking statements or statements of future expectations based on currently available information. Such statements are naturally subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors such as the development of general economic conditions, future market conditions, unusual catastrophic loss events, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different from those anticipated by such statements. Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP and Multiverse Fund I GP, LLC do not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated status of such statements, and no outside third party has confirmed the information in this press release. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will Multiverse Investment Fund I, LP, Multiverse Investment Fund I GP, LLC or any affiliate companies or management be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or for any related damages.
Corporate Communications:
NetworkWire (NW)
New York, New York
www.NetworkWire.com
212.418.1217 Office
Editor@NetworkWire.com