Date: 2015-05-06
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: small molecules modulating genetically-engineered T cell product candidates
Company: Juno Therapeutics (USA - WA) Fate Therapeutics (USA - CA)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: licensing collaboration
Action mechanism: cell therapy/gene therapy/CAR-T cell therapy. Juno's chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology genetically engineers T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. Juno's CAR T cell technology inserts a gene for a particular CAR into the T cell, enabling it to recognize cancer cells based on the expression of a specific protein located on the cell surface. When the engineered T cell engages the target protein on the cancer cell, it initiates a cell-killing response against the cancer cell.
Disease:
Details: * On May 6, 2015, Juno Therapeutics and Fate Therapeutics announced that they have executed a strategic research collaboration and license agreement to identify and utilize small molecules to modulate Juno's genetically-engineered T cell product candidates to improve their therapeutic potential for cancer patients. The collaboration brings together Juno's industry-leading expertise in the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) based cellular immunotherapies and Fate's innovative platform for programming the biological properties and in vivo therapeutic potential of hematopoietic cells.
Through the four-year research and development collaboration, Fate will be responsible for screening and identifying small molecules that modulate the biological properties of engineered T cells. Juno will be responsible for the development and commercialization of engineered T cell immunotherapies incorporating Fate's small molecule modulators. Juno has the option to extend the exclusive research term for two years through an additional payment and continued funding of collaboration activities.
Financial terms: Financial terms of the agreement include an upfront payment to Fate of $5 million and the purchase by Juno of one million shares of Fate common stock at $8.00 per share. Juno will fund all mutual collaboration activities for an exclusive four-year research term. For each product developed by Juno that incorporates modulators identified through the collaboration, Fate is eligible to receive approximately $50 million in target selection fees and clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as low single-digit royalties on sales. Fate retains exclusive rights to its intellectual property for all purposes outside of programmed CAR and TCR immunotherapies.
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