Purple  Biotech Ltd. (“Purple Biotech”, or the “Company”), a clinical-stage company developing first-in-class, effective and durable therapies that harness the power of the tumor microenvironment to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance, today announced a research collaboration with Mor Research Applications (Mor), the technology transfer subsidiary of Clalit Healthcare Services (Clalit). The agreement provides Purple Biotech first access to early-stage oncology product candidates owned by Mor. Under this agreement, the Company will have the option to fund early development aiming both to in-license selected drug assets and to pursue their development and commercialization.

Clalit is Israel’s largest Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), covering approximately half the population of Israel (52%). Clalit serves approximately 4.8 million members and operates 14 hospitals. The research conducted at these hospitals is now potentially available to Purple Biotech for in-licensing and clinical development.

“To grow our pipeline of therapeutic assets, our focus at Purple Biotech is to identify unique, first-in-class oncology assets and technologies and bring them into clinical development,” said Gil Efron, CEO of Purple Biotech. “This research collaboration with Mor will provide us access to numerous early-stage assets that have been developed by leading researchers and scientists in Israel. We are excited at the prospect of being able to select from among these innovative assets the ones we wish to in-license for clinical and commercial development. This collaboration leverages our expertise in cancer drug development and accelerates our vision of bringing first-in-class treatments to cancer patients worldwide.”

Under this partnership, Purple Biotech has first right to review Mor’s pool of early-stage research projects and to select those that it wishes to explore in early development prior to in-licensing, which will carry worldwide exclusivity.

“We look forward to collaborating with Purple Biotech as a partner that can bring our high-value, first-in-class assets forward through further development,” said Shay Marcus, Mor Research Application’s CEO. “Purple Biotech has demonstrated a commitment to pursuing breakthrough oncology treatments that have the potential to replace the standard-of-care for some of the most debilitating and intractable cancers. It is our hope that this collaboration will be the path to allow our cutting-edge research to become a therapeutic reality for cancer patients.”

See press release