Adaptimmune Announces Exclusive License with Life Technologies Corporation on Proprietary Manufacturing Process for T Cell Therapy using its modified T Cell receptors
Exclusive license secures a critical component for commercial development of modified T cells
Oxford, UK and Philadelphia, PA – 7 January, 2013 -- Adaptimmune announces that it has secured an exclusive commercial license from Life Technologies Corporation for its intellectual property portfolio for methods of expanding and activating T cells transduced with engineered T cell receptors (TCR). Life's Dynabeads® CD3/CD28 CTS™ are the only GMP-grade reagents commercially available for use in clinical trials practicing these patented methods for the rapid expansion of autologous T cells in T cell therapy.
Background to the exclusive license
Adaptimmune's technology is based on enhancing the power of the T cell receptor (TCR) on killer T cells. This involves taking the patient's own T cells, genetically modifying them to present the selected TCR and then re-infusing the T cells into the patient. A critical step in this process is the stimulation and expansion of the T cells prior to re-infusion. Since Life Technologies' beads are the only GMP-grade reagents commercially available for this patented process, today's deal means that Adaptimmune has secured exclusive commercial access to the technology and the underlying manufacturing processes needed for obtaining regulatory approval of expansion of T cells carrying TCRs.
Life Technologies has developed a considerable portfolio of intellectual property relating to the use of anti-CD3/anti-CD28 antibody-coated magnetic beads for expansion of autologous T cells. The license agreements give Adaptimmune exclusive commercial rights to use Life's beads and the processes for transduced TCRs used in T cell therapy. It does not affect the use of Life's beads in other fields or for non-profit, non-commercial, or academic use.
A landmark deal for Adaptimmune
Adaptimmune has a number of programmes in the clinic with TCR-modified T cells, which rely on Life Technologies' patented methods, as well as a pipeline of new TCRs at the pre-clinical stage. In December 2012, Adaptimmune announced encouraging preliminary results from its multiple myeloma trial at the American Society of Hematology Conference. Adaptimmune is also investigating other cancers with its leading TCR, which targets an antigen known as NY-ESO.
Today's announcement is another step in Adaptimmune's continuing route to exclusive commercialization of its products in this new field of autologous TCR-transduced T cell therapy, including establishing consistent GMP manufacturing of expanded T cells carrying TCRs for all later-stage studies and for commercialization.
Mr. James Noble, Chief Executive Officer of Adaptimmune, commented: "This is a landmark deal for Adaptimmune. We have been pioneers in the field of engineering T cell receptors for many years through the expertise of our CSO, Dr. Bent Jakobsen. This deal takes us to the next stage by securing a long-term and exclusive route to manufacturing our products for late-stage clinical studies and, if those trials are successful, for the market. Adaptimmune can now not only create TCRs for T cell therapy, but also exclusively use the intellectual property needed for the manufacturing process and commercialization."
"Life Technologies believes in the promise of cellular and genomic medicine and is dedicated to nurturing innovation in this emerging therapeutic field," said Gregory T. Lucier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Life Technologies. "The partnership with Adaptimmune demonstrates Life's commitment to deliver technologies that integrate the delivery of next generation therapies currently under development to treat the most critically ill patients."
Financial terms of the licensing deal are not disclosed. Adaptimmune was assisted in negotiating the deal by Vedder Price PC.
Ends
Contact
Margaret Henry
PR Consultant
Adaptimmune Ltd, UK
T: +44 (0) 1865 261491
Mobile: +44 (0) 7771 377363
E: [email protected]
Notes for editors
About Adaptimmune
Adaptimmune is focused on the use of T cell therapy to treat HIV and cancer. It aims to utilize the body's own machinery – the T lymphocyte cell – to target and destroy cancerous or infected cells.
Established in July 2008 with a research base in Oxford, UK and clinical base in Philadelphia, US, Adaptimmune was set up to a develop unique T cell receptor engineering technology for adoptive T cell therapy exclusively licensed from Immunocore Ltd (formerly Avidex/MediGene). Specifically, Adaptimmune makes use of the body's ability to recognize infected or cancerous cells by enhancing the power of the T cell receptor (TCR) on killer T cells. All cells, including cancerous cells, will typically present small parts or peptides of internal proteins on their surface as part of the natural protein processing pathway. This offers a "molecular fingerprint" of the protein called an epitope for killer T-cells from the immune system to identify and destroy. However, since cancer proteins are usually derived from selfproteins against which naturally selected TCRs in the body do not respond, the Adaptimmune technology uniquely enhances the natural TCR affinity to these cancer-specific epitopes enabling targeted killing of the cancer cells.
Adaptimmune has undertaken significant preclinical development with a number of pipeline TCRs to demonstrate their potency and specificity in vitro. The TCR in the current myeloma study specifically recognizes two cancer testis antigen targets: NY-ESO-1 157-165 and LAGE-1 (HLA A2; SLLMWITQC), and was engineered using Adaptimmune's proprietary TCR engineering platform. Myeloma is the lead indication for the therapy, with related trials in melanoma and sarcoma also recruiting patients and further trials in ovarian and hepatic cancer scheduled to open in 2013. http://www.adaptimmune.com
About Life Technologies
Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global biotechnology company with customers in more than 160 countries using its innovative solutions to solve some of today's most difficult scientific challenges. Quality and innovation are accessible to every lab with its reliable and easy-to-use solutions spanning the biological spectrum, with more than 50,000 products for agricultural biotechnology, translational research, molecular medicine and diagnostics, stem cell-based therapies, forensics, food safety and animal health. Its systems, reagents and consumables represent some of the most cited brands in scientific research including: Ion Torrent™, Applied Biosystems®, Invitrogen™, Gibco®, Ambion®, Molecular Probes® and Novex®. Life Technologies employs approximately 10,400 people and upholds its ongoing commitment to innovation with more than 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses. LIFE had sales of $3.7 billion in 2011. Visit us at our website: http://www.lifetechnologies.com.
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January 7, 2013 Adaptimmune – Life Technologies Corporation release FINAL
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About Vedder Price PC
Vedder Price is a general-practice law firm with a thriving intellectual property group. The firm has a proud tradition of maintaining long-term client relationships, many of which date back to its founding in 1952. With approximately 275 attorneys and growing, Vedder Price serves clients of all sizes and in virtually all industries from offices in Chicago, New York, Washington, DC and London. http://www.vedderprice.com