(Sharecast News) - Commercial cell engineering company MaxCyte announced the signing of a strategic platform licence (SPL) with Catamaran Bio on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm described Catamaran Bio as a biotechnology company developing novel, off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-NK cell therapies to treat a broad range of cancers, with a primary focus on solid tumours.

Under the terms of the agreement, Catamaran would obtain non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte's 'Flow Electroporation' technology and 'ExPERT' platform.

In return, MaxCyte would receive platform licensing fees and program-related revenue.

"The ability to leverage synthetic biology to engineer cell therapies will help drive innovative solutions for solid tumour cancer treatment," said president and chief executive officer Doug Doerfler.

"At MaxCyte, we are passionate about driving the discovery, development and manufacturing of next-generation, cell-based medicines to tackle complex diseases and cancer.

"We are excited to support Catamaran with the advancement of their pipeline of differentiated CAR-NK cell therapies into and through the clinic."

At 1049 GMT, shares in MaxCyte were up 1.26% at 443p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.