About Us
Stellar has a history of successful implementation of Federal NIH grant funded research to advance its technology and commercialize its products. We manufacture GMP-grade supplies of this critical component for a new class of medicines known as therapeutic vaccines that are being used to treat cancer, hypertension, arthritis, drug addiction and other serious chronic diseases.
KLH is a natural marine product that is produced only by a single unique species of marine mollusc, the giant keyhole limpet Megathura crenulata. This species is only found in certain sporadic rocky habitats along the Central and Southern California coast. The commercial prospects of KLH vaccines are threatened by the reliance upon a fragile wild population of these species, and the natural population is under increased pressure due to a rise in the harvesting of Megathura crenulata for biomedical applications.
Stellar has developed proprietary methods for Megathura reproduction, husbandry, and sustainable, environmentally sound KLH manufacturing using non-lethal hemolymph extraction from our captive production colonies.
KLH Background
KLH is a unique marine natural product protein belonging to a diverse group of compounds known as immune response modifiers - agents that activate, augment, or enhance specific immune responses. KLH's potency and safety as an immune response modifier are well established, and it is an essential component of dozens of new therapeutic vaccines that are in clinical trials. KLH's effects upon immune response are also being exploited in new, first-in-kind diagnostic tests of immune response being developed by Stellar.
Therapeutic vaccines are a new class of therapy that uses a patient's own immune system to fight chronic diseases such as cancer. KLH is used in therapeutic vaccines as a carrier protein to present vaccine molecules to the immune system, enabling the body to mount an effective immune response that it otherwise could not. In cancer vaccines, KLH presents tumor-associated molecules to the immune system, activating the immune response against the tumor and destroying it. KLH-based cancer vaccines have generated positive clinical trial results (especially in lymphoma) in preventing tumor recurrence and prolonging remission following first-line cancer therapies such as radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and biologic therapies such as monoclonal antibodies.
Corporate Affairs
Frank R. Oakes, CEO
foakes@stellarbiotech.com
Technology and Product Information
David C. Spaulding, Ph.D., CTO
dspaulding@stellarbiotech.com
Quality Assurance and Regulatory
Vincent Foley, Quality Systems
vfoley@stellarbiotech.com
Manufacturing and Order Processing
Rodrick Conde, Manufacturing
rconde@stellarbiotech.com
Aquaculture and Marine Research
Scott Begly, Aquaculture Dept.
sbegly@stellarbiotech.com
Aquaculture and Marine Research
Brandon Lincicum, Aquaculture Dept.
blincicum@stellarbiotech.com