Register Now: From Clinical to Commercial: Accelerating ADC Late-Stage Development with Technology Innovation and Integrated Platform
Logo Image
|Articles|April 7, 2015

Novartis and Juno Settle Over CAR-T Therapy Technology

Novartis will make payments to Juno to settle a patent dispute covering chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies.

 

Juno Therapeutics released a statement on Apr. 6, 2015 announcing that the company has reached a settlement with Novartis over the T-cell manipulation technology used in the creation of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapies. The litigation originally began as a contract dispute in 2012 between St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and was expanded to include a patent titled “Chimeric Receptors with 4-1BB Stimulatory Signaling Domain.” Juno became a party to the litigation through a 2013 license agreement with St. Jude to use the patent. Novartis entered into a partnership with UPenn to develop CAR-T therapies in 2012.

As a result of the settlement, Novartis will pay Juno $12.25 million upfront and will pay Juno milestone payments and royalties from net sales of product candidates in the United States and royalties from payments from Novartis to UPenn on global sales. Juno will share the payments with St. Jude based on terms of their contract together. The candidate in question-Novartis’ CTL019, which targets CD19-is the first of many CAR-T projects the company has in development.

Novartis is also in CAR-T manufacturing collaborations with Oxford BioMedica and Aduro Biotech. Juno is in a separate research partnership with Fred Hutchinson academic group on T-cell therapies targeting the same co-stimulatory domain (4-1BB) and same vector delivery vehicle (lentiviral) as in its work with Novartis. Juno is also collaborating with Memorial Sloan Kettering on a retroviral CAR-T model with CD28 as the co-stimulatory domain. Juno was formed in early 2014 with $120 million in financing to commercialize therapeutic discoveries by scientists at three institutions: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Seattle Children's Research Institute. The therapies in development are already being tested in clinical trials at all three hospitals.

Juno Therapeutics and Kite Pharma are two of the most mentioned biotechs in the CAR-T space. In fact, litigation could be a risk for Kite Pharma next. EvaluatePharma released a report in January 2015 saying that Kite has “yet to negotiate an exclusive license to its CAR-T project from academia.” Other companies, such as Bellicum; Cellectis in collaboration with Pfizer; Bluebird in collaboration with Celgene; Ziopharm in collaboration with Intrexon; and Cardio3 also have CAR-T projects targeting various antigens (including many targeting CD19) in the works.

Sources:
Juno Therapeutics
EvaluatePharma

 

Related to this article

View more
The BioPharm Brief: FDA Designations for a Bispecific CAR-T, a BLA for Friedreich’s Ataxia, and Phase 2b MASH Data for Efinopegdutide
The BioPharm Brief: FDA Designations for a Bispecific CAR-T, a BLA for Friedreich’s Ataxia, and Phase 2b MASH Data for Efinopegdutide
FDA grants RMAT and Fast Track designations to AbelZeta’s CD20/CD19 bispecific CAR-T prizlon-cel in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, Larimar Therapeutics completes a BLA seeking accelerated approval of nomlabofusp for Friedreich’s ataxia, and Merck’s GLP-1/glucagon receptor agonist efinopegdutide meets its primary endpoint in a phase 2b MASH trial.
Read more
The BioPharm Brief: argenx Bets on Peptides, a Two-Bispecific Regimen in Prostate Cancer, and a New Take on T-Cell Engagers
The BioPharm Brief: argenx Bets on Peptides, a Two-Bispecific Regimen in Prostate Cancer, and a New Take on T-Cell Engagers
argenx agrees to acquire macrocyclic peptide developer Unnatural Products for up to about $1.15 billion, Johnson & Johnson’s pasritamig and JNJ-9401 bispecific regimen achieves a 73% PSA response in phase 1 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, and Janux Therapeutics’ TRBV6-targeted T-cell engager JANX011 shows deep B-cell depletion in healthy volunteers.
Read more
The BioPharm Brief: A Bispecific Approval in Head and Neck Cancer, TCR Bispecifics Head to the Clinic, and a New Antibody Target in Essential Thrombocythemia
The BioPharm Brief: A Bispecific Approval in Head and Neck Cancer, TCR Bispecifics Head to the Clinic, and a New Antibody Target in Essential Thrombocythemia
FDA grants accelerated approval to Johnson & Johnson’s subcutaneous EGFR/MET bispecific Rybrevant Faspro for previously treated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, T-Therapeutics raises a $133 million Series B to take TCR-CD3 bispecifics into clinical trials, and Alethio Therapeutics raises a $90 million Series A to advance its first-in-class G6B antibody for essential thrombocythemia.
Read more