Full Press Release Details
Adaptimmune and Noile-Immune Announce
Agreement to Develop SPEAR T-Cell Products expressing
IL-7 and CCL19 as a next-generation treatment for cancer patients
- The collaboration will develop
Adaptimmune's SPEAR T-cells in combination with Noile-Immune's PRIME (IL-7 and CCL19) technology to improve proliferation
and trafficking of T-cells to tackle solid tumors -
PHILADELPHIA and OXFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom, Aug. 27, 2019
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, Philadelphia, PA, and Oxfordshire, UK (Nasdaq:ADAP), a leader in T-cell therapy
to treat cancer, and Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, a biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative
cancer immunotherapies, today announced that they will co-develop next-generation SPEAR T-cell products, incorporating Noile-Immune's
PRIME (proliferation inducing and migration enhancing) technology, based upon co-expression of IL-7 and CCL19. The PRIME technology,
which is already being investigated for augmentation of CAR-T cell activity, will be investigated with Adaptimmune's SPEAR
T-cells, as part of Adaptimmune's next-generation programs.
"We recently started our Phase 2 trial in sarcoma called
SPEARHEAD-1 as well as the SURPASS trial, our first next-generation product clinical trial. We will continue to develop enhanced
products with the aim of increasing the efficacy and durability of anti-tumor responses," said Karen Miller, Adaptimmune's
Senior Vice President of Pipeline Research. "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. This increased T-cell proliferation and trafficking may enhance anti-tumor
activity for cancer patients."
"We are very pleased to step into co-development of next-generation
T-cell products with Adaptimmune," said Hidenobu Ishizaki, M.D., Ph.D., President & CEO of Noile-Immune. "This
agreement is another example of our collaborations to apply PRIME technology, which was invented by Dr. Koji Tamada, our scientific
founder, to highly innovative cell therapies, and to work with top external scientific and clinical teams. This technology may
establish more effective cancer treatments that address the needs of patients."
Under the terms of the agreement, Noile-Immune and Adaptimmune
will collaborate on preclinical development of next-generation SPEAR T-cells directed to a limited number of T-cell targets incorporating
Noile-Immune's PRIME technology. Adaptimmune will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize resulting products on
a worldwide basis. Adaptimmune will make an upfront cash payment and milestone payments to Noile-Immune of up to $312M across all
programs. Noile-Immune is also entitled to receive mid-single digit royalties on net sales of resulting products. The companies
plan to gain regulatory approval for human testing of the first target program by 2021.
Adaptimmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused
on the development of novel cancer immunotherapy products for cancer patients. The Company's unique SPEAR (Specific Peptide
Enhanced Affinity Receptor) T-cell platform enables the engineering
of T-cells to target and destroy cancer across multiple solid tumors. For more information, please visit http://www.adaptimmune.com.
Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a biotechnology
company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy products to eradicate cancer cells. The
Company's goal is to discover and develop innovative cancer immunotherapies through partnerships with experts in industry
and academia, including Yamaguchi University and The National Cancer Center (NCC) in Japan. For more information, please visit
Adaptimmune Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). These forward-looking statements involve certain
risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated
by such forward-looking statements, and include, without limitation: the success, cost and timing of our product development activities
and clinical trials and our ability to successfully advance our TCR therapeutic candidates through the regulatory and commercialization
processes. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from
those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to our business in general, we refer you to our
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 1, 2019, and our other
SEC filings. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date the statements were made
and we do not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Adaptimmune Contacts:
S bastien Desprez - VP, Communications and Investor
Juli P. Miller, Ph.D. - Senior Director, Investor Relations
Noile-Immune Contact:
Tsutom Tokashiki - SVP, Business