NewcelX collaborates with Eledon Pharmaceuticals to advance NCEL-101 programme for Type 1 diabetes
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
NewcelX Ltd. has announced a research collaboration with Eledon Pharmaceuticals Inc. to support the development of its NCEL-101 programme for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes.
The collaboration will focus on combination strategies that integrate NewcelX’s stem-cell-derived therapy candidate NCEL-101 with Eledon’s investigational anti-CD40L monoclonal antibody tegoprubart (AT-1501). The approach aims to enable durable and immune-protected islet replacement, which could help advance a potential functional cure for Type 1 diabetes.
Tegoprubart is designed to regulate immune activation pathways linked to T-cell-mediated transplant rejection. The therapy has already been studied in more than 100 transplant patients across several transplant settings, including kidney, heart and diabetes-related procedures, under Investigational New Drug applications cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The companies indicated that experience gained from these transplant studies could provide clinically relevant data for cell-replacement therapies and may help create a clearer regulatory pathway for the NCEL-101 programme. Combining immune-modulation strategies with NCEL-101 is expected to improve graft survival and support long-term outcomes similar to those achieved with donor human islets.
NCEL-101 remains the central therapeutic candidate in NewcelX’s pipeline. The treatment is designed to address the shortage of insulin-producing cells through scalable, off-the-shelf manufacturing. The immune-modulation component is intended to strengthen graft durability and support the long-term survival of transplanted cells.
The companies noted that the collaboration could help accelerate development timelines, clarify regulatory planning and strengthen the clinical development strategy for NCEL-101 as the programme moves towards key milestones.
Source: prnewswire.com
