NKMax America Announces Corporate Name Change to NKGen Biotech

SANTA ANA, Calif., April 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NKMax America, a biotechnology company harnessing the power of the body’s immune system through the development of Natural Killer (NK) cell therapies, today announced that it has changed its corporate name to NKGen Biotech, Inc., which the Company believes best reflects its mission and strategic focus. The name change is effective immediately.

“We believe the name NKGen Biotech more accurately represents the direction our company is headed and our commitment to developing the next generation of natural killer cell immunotherapies with the potential to restore immune function in patients with cancer worldwide,” said Stephen Chen, NKGen Biotech Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer.

Mr. Chen further commented, “Our clinical programs remain on track and we plan to report full data from our Phase 1 monotherapy trial of SNK01 in refractory solid tumors in the second quarter of 2021, while advancing our partnered combination programs with Merck KGaA and Affimed throughout the year. We are excited to embark on the next steps in our journey to become the leading player in NK cell therapeutics.”

The Company’s lead drug candidate, SNK01, is an investigational autologous NK cell-based therapy which is currently being studied alone and in combination with other approved drugs for the treatment of cancer. NKGen Biotech also plans to file an IND for its allogeneic NK cell platform in 2022.

About NKGen Biotech

NKGen Biotech is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to restoring and enhancing overall immune integrity. Our proprietary natural killer cell expansion and activation technology achieves infinite fold natural killer cell expansion with greatly enhanced cytotoxicity across both autologous and allogenic products which are all derived from peripheral blood. Our first in class autologous product, SNK01, is currently in a Phase I clinical trial in advanced refractory solid tumors and in a Phase I/IIa combination trial with Keytruda in Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. We have also added another cohort of SNK01 in combination with pembrolizumab or avelumab in refractive PD-L1 positive or PD-L1 negative solid tumors and are planning to initiate a Phase 1 combination trial of SNK01 and AFM24 in patients suffering from tumors known to express EGFR. The company and its commercially licensed cGMP facility are headquartered in Santa Ana, California, USA. www.nkgenbiotech.com 

Contact:
Denise Chua, MBA, CLS, MT (ASCP)
Vice President, Marketing 
949-396-6830
dchua@nkgenbiotech.com