LG Chem will have non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation technology and ExPERT platform.

According to MaxCyte, the partnership will support LG Chem’s CAR-T programs for solid tumors, including LR19023, which is in the pre-clinical stage and being developed as a solid cancer therapeutic. In return, MaxCyte, will receive platform licensing fees and program-related revenue.

“This announcement marks our 17th strategic platform license (SPL) partnership,” Doug Doerfler, CEO at MaxCyte told BioProcess Insider.

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“It represents our first SPL with a South Korean company and broadens our reach into Asia to provide advanced technologies that support the clinical and commercial development of engineered cell therapies and ultimately change the lives of patients with cancer.”

Electroporation is a physical transfection method where an electrical pulse can create temporary pores in cell membranes where substances such as nucleic acids can pass into cells.

MaxCyte claims that electroporation is an “efficient and safe” cell engineering process. The ExPERT platform works by cells being placed into a “a conductive solution and a brief electrical pulse ‘relaxes’ cellular membranes, allowing DNA, RNA or other molecules to enter. It simplifies payload transfection into almost any cell type and is suitable for both transient (temporary) and stable (permanent) expression. This process is high-performance and scalable, with unmatched post-transfection cell viability, and is designed to modify cells for research or clinical use,” said Doerfler.

To ensure that LG Chem know how to use MaxCyte’s technology, the firm said that its “team of field application scientists helps develop and optimize protocols to ensure the technology performs successfully, from day one through to commercialization.”