Pluri Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUR) (TASE:PLUR) ("Pluri" or the "Company"), a leading biotechnology company that transforms cells into solutions, today announced that the Israel Innovation Authority ("IIA") will fund Pluri's collaboration with the Bar-Ilan University Research and Development Company Ltd., ("BIRAD"), the commercial arm of Bar-Ilan University, to support the continued development of Placental Mucosal Associated Invariant T ("MAIT") cells for solid tumors. MAIT cells are known to have unique advantages compared to conventional T-cells but have previously been difficult to expand and scale for clinical investigation and potential commercialization. MAIT cells are believed to be particularly suitable for the treatment of solid tumors, a significant unmet medical need.

Under this collaboration, Prof. Cohen's novel Siglec-based Chimeric Switch Receptors ("CCR") will be integrated into Pluri's CAR-MAIT cell therapy platform to significantly enhance CAR-MAIT's efficacy and tumor specificity. By leveraging the complementary strengths of both parties, Pluri's expertise in the MAIT cell platform and the experience of Prof. Cohen's group in developing clinically relevant and optimized T-cell genetic modification vectors, this collaboration is poised to advance innovative allogeneic cell therapies targeting solid tumors. The IIA will fund Pluri and BIRAD's collaboration over the next year, with an option of funding an additional year. The goal of this collaboration is to effectively integrate both innovative technologies and advance to preclinical studies.

As announced in May 2024, Pluri leveraged two decades of cell expansion expertise and its proprietary technology to create a novel, patented methodfor expansion of immune cells. Pluri's MAIT cells are isolated from healthy human placentas, a source rich in highly potent immune cells. Notable characteristics of Pluri's placental MAIT cells include their potency as effector cells, their potential ability to target tumors through multiple mechanisms, and their expression of high levels of various chemokine receptors, which facilitate their migration to tumor sites. MAIT cells hold unique properties that minimize their likelihood of inducing Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD), a serious complication associated with other potential allogeneic products.