Translating science from the Lab to the Clinic

Company Overview

Oloker Therapeutics is a biotechnology start-up committed to discovery, development and commercialization of cellular therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our mission is to bring to light new innovative cellular therapies for unmet clinical needs that can improve patients’ prognosis and quality of life through extensive scientific research and in-depth knowledge of cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiac-derived progenitor cell

Oloker is developing proprietary cardiac-derived progenitor cell products with the aim to find a cure for various cardiovascular diseases. Basic and preclinical research studies in ischaemia models have shown that its proprietary cardiac cell product is salutary for the treatment of heart conditions that require new blood vessels.

An innovative technology

Our innovative technology originates from the close collaboration between scientists and physicians with an integrated bench-to-bedside approach.

Alessandro Sannino

PhD, Scientific Coordinator

Ercole Festa

Amministratore Unico

Paolo De Carlo

Legal Advisor

Giulio Pompilio

MD-PhD - CSO

Giulio Pompilio is Scientific Director, Head of Vascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Unit, and Senior Staff Surgeon at Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS. He is appointed as Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery at University of Milano. Prof. Pompilio has a long-lasting experience in cardiovascular clinical and surgical research. He is pioneer in Italy of cardiovascular gene and stem cell therapy and an international opinion leader of CV regenerative medicine. He currently serves as Chair-elect of the ESC Working Group on Cardiovascular Regenerative and Reparative Medicine. He was Principal/Co-principal Investigator in phase I-III studies of regenerative CV medicine.

Elisa Gambini

PhD - COO-CTO

Dr. Gambini has 16-year experience in cardiac stem cell biology. Her translational expertise ranges from stem cell basic science to preclinical models of cardiovascular stem cell therapy. She has served as staff scientists at Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS from 2004 to 2020. Dr. Gambini boasts experience in GMP-grade translation of cell products to the clinic and in IMPD finalization for Phase I-II cardiac cell therapy regulatory authorization.

Elisa Gambini

Ph.D. - CTO-COO

Dr. Gambini has nearly two decades of experience in cardiac stem cell biology. Her translational expertise ranges from stem cell basic science to preclinical models of cardiovascular stem cell therapy. She has served as staff scientists at Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS from 2004 to 2020. Dr. Gambini boasts experience in GMP-grade translation of cell products to the clinic and in IMPD finalization for Phase I-II cardiac cell therapy regulatory authorization

Diego Fariniello

Ph.D. - Senior Researcher

Diego Farinello is a Senior Researcher with 14 years of experience. He developed his skills in molecular and cell biology, in vitro 3D and animal models and already worked in development of pre-clinical cell-therapy models along with different academic projects. His work varied from development to cancer biology.

Fatemeh Asgari

Ph.D. - Senior Researcher

Having an immunology background, she got a phd in molecular medicine. later on, she has done a postdoc in cell therapy using immunodeficient mouse models. Apart from 10 years of research experience, she has 5 years of working experience in medical diagnostic laboratories.

Gabriele Di Napoli

Technician

About 13 years of experience in biological and chemical research. He spent about 9 years in an academic environment and 3 years working in a German biotech company. Combining both experiences in biology and chemistry, he has adapted his professional figure to different goals and projects;

Veronica Rugini

Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology

For the last 5 years she has worked in small and multinational companies on the safety profile of vaccines, drugs and medical devices in clinical trials and spontaneous cases, combining daily pharmacovigilance activities with medicinal chemistry.

Giulio Pompilio

MD-PhD - CSO

Head, Vascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Unit. More than 20 years experience in cardiovascular clinical and surgical research. Principal/Co-principal Investigator in phase I-III studies of regenerative CV medicine

Professor Philippe Menasché

MD, PhD

Dr. Philippe Menasché is professor in the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, clinical cardiac surgeon at the Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, and leader of an INSERM team devoted to cell therapy of cardiovascular diseases.

ProfessorJens Kastrup

MD, DMSc, FESC

He is the founder and Director of the Cardiology Stem Cell Centre in the Heart Centre at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen. JK is one of the original inventors of the technology behind Cell2Cure. He is the primary investigator and currently heading three ongoing clinical trials with C2C-ASC.

Michel E. Lussier

Founder of Celyad Oncology SA, InControl, Inc., MedPole SA and Cardio3 SA, He is an entrepreneur and businessperson who has been at the head of 6 different companies and occupies the position of Chairman of Celyad Oncology SA, Chairman for iSTAR Medical SA and Chief Executive Officer for MedPole SA.

Research

The invention, christened CPCPlus, is a product-by-process intended to comply, according to EMA guidelines and EU legislation, with the ATMP classification. CPCPlus therapy is conceived as a novel cost-effective cardiac ATMP directly delivered through specific catheters into the ischemic heart. The product exerts a potent angiogenic effect into the ischemic myocardium. From a clinical standpoint, the technology is aimed to cover the lack of therapy for patients dealing with refractory angina, a no-option heart condition due to inadequate oxygen supply to the cardiac muscle.

The key aspects of CPCPlus are summarized below:

Product Pipeline

The Oloker Therapeutics core technology, christened CPCPlus, is proprietary product-by-process platform including: 1) a method for cardiac-derived cell selection and expansion and 2) a newly discovered subpopulation of stromal-derived cardiac cells. We have developed a proprietary fully GMP-compliant manufacturing process that enables a high-efficient and cost-effective scalable expansion of our human cardiac progenitor cells (hCmPC), while maintaining their ability to produce key molecules associated with neovascularization, immunomodulation and tissue repair. Our cell product can be exploited both in autologous and “off-the-shelf” allogenic setting. Our technology enables to release a cell product with consistent, well-defined therapeutic properties, batch release criteria and potency assays, all with economy of scale criteria.

“METHOD FOR THE ISOLATION OF SUBPOPULATIONS OF CARDIAC PROGENITOR CELLS AND RELATED USES IN THE MEDICAL FIELD”
  • Italy: IT102017000062176
  • International: PCT/IB2018/054057, Publication WO 2018/224983 A1.
  • Europe: EP3635096.
  • Israel: IL270572
  • South Korea: KR1020200015585
  • Usa: US20200140818
  • Japan: JP2020522282
  • Singapore: 11201910563Q
  • Australia: AU2018279290

Product Pipeline

Work with us

    Contacts

    Registered office

    Piazza Giuseppe Massari 19 – 70122 Bari (Italy) – c/o Siryo S.p.A.
    P.Iva 08507120726
    Codice Destinatario: M5UXCR1
    PEC: oloker@pec.it

    Operational headquarters

    c/o Centro Cardiologico Monzino,
    Via Carlo Parea 4,
    20138 Milano (Italy)

    info@oloker.com

    Investors