LYON, France and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ERYTECH Pharma (Euronext: ERYP – Nasdaq: ERYP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies by encapsulating drug substances inside red blood cells, today announced a strategic partnership with New York Blood Center (NYBC) for red blood cell supply and research.

The partnership encompasses NYBC becoming a long-term supplier of donor red blood cells (RBC) to ERYTECH, enabling ERYTECH to diversify and broaden its supply of RBC source materials for the production of eryaspase and future product candidates derived from its proprietary ERYCAPS® platform as the company ramps up clinical development. Specifically for the Phase 3 trial in second-line metastatic pancreatic cancer that recently started enrolling patients in Europe, and the Phase 2 trial in first-line triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which are both expected to begin enrollment in the United States early in 2019. The partnership will also foster the creation of an RBC research platform leveraging NYBC’s infrastructure and capabilities in blood science to support ERYTECH’s preclinical activities in the United States.

“NYBC’s blood collection and processing scale in the Northeast United States will strengthen our RBC supply to be utilized at our New Jersey manufacturing site which is currently under construction,” stated Gil Beyen, Chief Executive Officer at ERYTECH. “We also look forward to working with NYBC to advance our preclinical platform based on our proprietary ERYCAPS® technology.”

“We are excited to partner with ERYTECH to advance the development of vital and novel cancer treatments,” said Beth Shaz, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at New York Blood Center. “Our state-of-the-art infrastructure and expertise in blood services and research make us uniquely suited to support clinical and preclinical activities with both products and laboratory services.”