KFSHRC, Cellenkos Announce Partnership to Advance Treg Therapies

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC), an AABB institutional member, and Cellenkos Inc., a Texas-based biotech company, recently announced a clinical trial alliance to develop T regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for rare diseases with significant unmet medical needs. The organizations signed a memorandum of understanding during the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum 2025, which took place last month.

The collaboration will initially include two clinical trials investigating Cellenkos’ off-the-shelf, cord blood-derived Treg products for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease and aplastic anemia. Cellenkos will also support KFSHRC in developing local infrastructure for cell and gene therapy manufacturing, training and education.

The announcement was one of several biotherapies-focused partnerships KFSHRC formalized during the forum. Additional agreements include a collaboration with ImmunityBio to establish a national biotechnology platform for immunotherapy and a partnership with Germfree to expand advanced laboratory development.