Juno Therapeutics Signs Licensing Agreements with Lilly, OncoTracker, & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to Advance Its...
December 06 2017 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JUNO), a biopharmaceutical
company developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for the
treatment of cancer, today announced three license agreements to
advance its program in multiple myeloma using gamma secretase
inhibitors (GSIs) in combination with BCMA-directed CAR T
cells.
Gamma secretase is an enzyme that cleaves a set of transmembrane
proteins, including BCMA. Multiple publications have shown that
treatment with GSIs can increase surface expression of BCMA on
tumors, particularly multiple myeloma. Increased cell surface BCMA
may increase potency of a BCMA-directed CAR T therapy1.
“BCMA appears to be an important target for treating patients
with multiple myeloma and Juno is dedicated to investigating novel
approaches to maximize efficacy for these patients. These licenses
open up an important approach to improve the activity and outcomes
for CAR T cells targeted at BCMA,” said Sunil Agarwal, M.D., Juno’s
President of Research and Development. “We plan to begin clinical
trials in 2018 combining a gamma secretase inhibitor with our BCMA
CAR T product candidates.”
Through its agreement with Eli Lilly and Company, Juno will
acquire a license to the GSI known as LY3039478, a product
candidate that has been studied in 411 patients and healthy
volunteers. Through its agreements with OncoTracker and Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Juno will gain exclusive rights
to intellectual property within the field of combinations of GSIs
and BCMA-directed engineered T cells.
No other terms from these three transactions were disclosed.
1Pont M. “Gamma secretase inhibition increases recognition of
multiple myeloma by BCMA-specific chimeric antigen receptor
modified T cells.” Presented at Annual Meeting of the Society for
Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). November 8-12, 2017. National
Harbor, MD.
About Juno
Juno Therapeutics is building a fully integrated
biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative cellular
immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Founded on the vision
that the use of human cells as therapeutic entities will drive one
of the next important phases in medicine, Juno is developing
cell-based cancer immunotherapies based on chimeric antigen
receptor and high-affinity T cell receptor technologies to
genetically engineer T cells to recognize and kill cancer. Juno is
developing multiple cell-based product candidates to treat a
variety of B-cell malignancies as well as multiple solid tumors and
multiple myeloma. Several product candidates have shown compelling
clinical responses in clinical trials in refractory leukemia and
lymphoma conducted to date. Juno’s long-term aim is to leverage its
cell-based platform to develop new product candidates that address
a broader range of cancers and human diseases. Juno brings together
innovative technologies from some of the world’s leading research
institutions, including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Seattle Children’s Research
Institute (SCRI), the University of California, San Francisco, and
The National Cancer Institute. Juno Therapeutics has an exclusive
license to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patented
technology for CD19-directed product candidates that use 4-1BB,
which was developed by Dario Campana, Chihaya Imai, and St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. Juno’s product candidate JCAR017 was
developed in collaboration with SCRI and others.
About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel
laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists
seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer,
HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s
pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the
development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the
immune system to treat cancer. An independent, nonprofit research
institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first
and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the
clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and
the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.
For more information visit www.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch
on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
About OncoTracker
OncoTracker, Inc. (“OncoTracker”) is a Los Angeles-based medical
diagnostics company, with exclusive rights to the recent and
patented discovery of a novel blood biomarker that monitors the
tumor burden of patients with multiple myeloma, CLL, B cell
lymphoma and potentially other cancers. In addition, OncoTracker
has a broad array of technology, intellectual property and products
related to therapeutics, monitoring clinical trials, predicting
success of various therapies and real-time monitoring effectiveness
of therapies including multiple myeloma, other liquid and solid
tumors.
Juno’s Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding
Juno’s mission, progress, and business plans; the therapeutic
potential of combining JCARH125, or other engineered T cells, with
GSIs; and Juno’s planned clinical trials. Forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking
statements, and reported results should not be considered as an
indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, risks associated with: the
success, cost, and timing of Juno’s product development activities
and clinical trials; Juno’s ability to obtain regulatory approval
for and to commercialize its product candidates; Juno’s ability to
establish a commercially-viable manufacturing process and
manufacturing infrastructure; regulatory requirements and
regulatory developments; success of Juno’s competitors with respect
to competing treatments and technologies; Juno’s dependence on
third-party collaborators and other contractors in Juno’s research
and development activities, including for the conduct of clinical
trials and the manufacture of Juno’s product candidates; Juno’s
ability to attract and retain key scientific, quality
control/assurance, manufacturing or management personnel; Juno’s
dependence on Celgene for the development and
commercialization outside of North
America and China of Juno’s CD19 product candidates
and any other product candidates for
which Celgene exercises an option; Juno’s dependence
on JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd and its affiliates for
the development and commercialization of product candidates
in China; Juno’s ability to obtain, maintain, or protect
intellectual property rights related to its product candidates;
amongst others. For a further description of the risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks
relating to Juno’s business in general, see Juno’s Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on November 1, 2017 and Juno’s other
periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date hereof. Juno disclaims any obligation to update these
forward-looking statements.
The “About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center” and “About
OncoTracker” sections of this press release were provided by Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and OncoTracker, respectively.
Juno disclaims all responsibility for the accuracy of the content
of those sections and the websites or other Internet content
referenced therein.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171206005261/en/
Juno Therapeutics, Inc.Investor Relations:Nicole Keith,
206-566-5521nikki.keith@junotherapeutics.comorMedia:Christopher
Williams, 206-566-5660chris.williams@junotherapeutics.com
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