Ortho Biotech, NCI ink development deal

Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Biotech has signed a five-year agreement with the National Cancer Institute. The two parties will research and develop adoptive immunotherapy technologies as potential treatments for a variety of cancers. Adoptive immunotherapies are designed to directly find and destroy cancerous tumor cells using a patient's own immune system T cells, which could spare healthy tissue.

The company will work with the NCI's Steven Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., to research and develop cell therapy technologies as potential treatments for a variety of cancers. Rosenberg's lab will conduct a clinical trial in melanoma patients using Ortho Biotech Oncology's technology, which could potentially be applied to other forms of cancer as well. The two sides will also collaborate on a T-Cell Receptor (TCR) research program.

"This public-private partnership represents an extraordinary opportunity to bring together complementary and substantial expertise and resources from two groups with the common goal of advancing a highly promising new modality of therapy for patients with cancer," said Jay Siegel, M.D., chief biotechnology officer of Johnson & Johnson's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices & Diagnostics businesses. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

- here's the release

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