Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC and Noile-Immune Biotech Inc. agreed to jointly develop so-called specific peptide enhanced affinity receptor T cell products to treat certain types of cancer.
Under the deal, Tokyo-based Noile-Immune will study its proliferation inducing and migration enhancing, or PRIME, technology — based upon co-expression of Interleukin-7 and Chemokine ligand 19 proteins — with Adaptimmune's specific peptide enhanced affinity receptor, or SPEAR, T cells. The PRIME technology is already being investigated to boost chimeric antigen receptor T cell activity.
Both companies will work together on preclinical development of next-generation SPEAR T cells directed to a limited number of T cell targets incorporating the PRIME technology.
Oxfordshire, U.K.-based Adaptimmune will obtain the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize resulting products globally. The company will make an up-front cash payment and milestone payments to Noile‑Immune of up to $312 million. Noile-Immune could also receive mid-single digit royalties on net sales of resulting products.
"This agreement with Noile-Immune will enable us to generate next‑generation SPEAR T cells secreting both IL-7 and CCL19, which may improve proliferation and trafficking of not only our engineered SPEAR T cells, but also the patient's own T cells into solid tumors," said Karen Miller, Adaptimmune's senior vice president of pipeline research. "This increased T cell proliferation and trafficking may enhance anti-tumor activity for cancer patients."
Adaptimmune has commenced a phase 2 study, called Spearhead-1, to evaluate its ADP-A2M4 SPEAR T cell therapy in sarcoma, a type of cancer that begins in the bones and in the connective tissues. The company has also initiated a trial called Surpass to assess SPEAR T cells across multiple solid tumor indications.
The companies intend to gain regulatory approval for human testing of the first target program by 2021.
