CiMaas’ leading product to fight cancer is Natural Killer (NK) cells. These cells kill tumor cells directly as has been observed in pre-clinical studies, as well as in clinical studies (patients with myeloid leukemia). To obtain a large number of these NK cells to treat patients, so-called feeder cells are needed to stimulate the proliferation and activation of NK cells.

By entering into a research collaboration with an option for an exclusive commercial  license for its antibody structures (specific directed against underglycosylated Mucin-1 and potentially other candidates) to CiMaas, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and CiMaas have strengthened their relation to fight cancer.

After several years of collaboration, Professor Dr Dean Lee has become a formal member of the scientific advisory board of CiMaas as of December 18, 2022.

CiMaas BV, a biotechnology company developing the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary NK cell expansion platform, announced the date for a presentation of the company at the Biotech Showcase 2023, the investor conference as follows: Monday, January 09, 2023, at 3:00PM at the Hilton San Francisco - Union Square, 333 O'Farrell Street, Ballroom Level San Francisco, CA 94102, USA.

CiMaas successfully expands Natural Killer (NK) cells to clinically relevant numbers using a 2-week protocol. Starting from 200 ml peripheral blood, NK are expanded to numbers meeting the expected clinically required 10.E8 cells/kg, with multiple infusions. This makes the expansion method developed directly applicable for clinical application of the produced NK cells in anti-cancer therapies. 

As of March 1, 2022, CiMaas is a licensed manufacturer for cell-based products. The company received the manufacturing authorization from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport – Farmatec/CIBG.

CiMaas, together with the Maastricht University Medical Center+ and the University Medical Center Utrecht have received a subsidy of € 1,48 million to further develop Natural Killer Cell therapy for breast cancer.

Cimaas has received an important stimulus from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) for the development of a therapeutic dendritic cell (DC) vaccine against lung cancer. It concerns a loan of € 2.4 million. 

As of October 1, 2020 esteemed tumor immunologist Prof Dr Jolanda de Vries becomes a member of the scientific advisory board.  Jolanda de Vries is head of the department of Tumor Immunology at Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Dutch website Oncologie.nu has interviewed CiMaas' Gerard Bos on the development of the dendritic cell vaccine for lung cancer.

While CiMaas is able to produce the required high numbers of natural killer (NK) cells intended to realise in the collaboration, we decided not to continue. Kiadis has refocused its clinical strategy to a concept of universal donors while CiMaas keeps working on the process of individual donors for each cancer patient where NK cells will be transfused in combination with a bone marrow transplantation.  

CiMaas CEO Prof Gerard Bos was interviewed about the current and future directions for dendritic cell vaccines.

Cell therapy is an active area of immunological research and represents a highly innovative and rapidly expanding sector of the pharmaceutical industry. CiMaas is part of the the INsTRuCT Consortium (www.instruct-h2020.eu) which comprises 15 different European companies or universities from 8 Member States, that answers an unmet need for postdoctoral researchers trained in scientifically excellent research and cell therapy development.

On Saturday January 11, 2020, CiMaas appeared in a special program on new innovations in medicine. It is part of a production for the RTL-Z program " How it's done". Broadcast time is 17.00.

Saturday April 11 at 16.30; April 14 at 10:30 uur and April 16 at 16:30 the programme will be repeated

Kiadis and CiMaas, Dutch developers and producers of cell therapy for cancer, have now signed an agreement to co-develop a fast and efficient production process to generate high numbers of Natural Killer Cells with strong capacity to kill tumor cells.

Neuroplast and CiMaas, developers and producers of regenerative cell therapies, are setting up joint shop at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen where they will be sharing a new laboratory and office space. Both companies currently employ around 30 people and expect to experience substantial growth.

The national campaign - to the end of June 2019 - airs radiospots and runs advertisements in several national newspapers to draw attention to the collaboration between the University and Brightlands in developing solutions for important societal issues. CiMaas regenerates the immune system to fight cancer.

Upon a recent application and discussion with EMA, Cimaas received the classification for its' dendritic cell vaccine. EMA/CAT considers that the WT1-DC-Xcite-L1 falls within the definitions of a somatic cell therapy medicinal product and a gene therapy medicinal product and based on that is considered as gene therapy medicinal product as provided in Article 2(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1394/2007.

On June 6 2019, Kiadis Pharma (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) acquired Cytosen (USA). CiMaas had a long-standing collaboration with Cytosen to realize production of large numbers of Natural Killer Cells. The acquisition results in that CiMaas will continue the development of the Natural Killer Cell therapy now with Kiadis.