On October 10, 2014 Oxford BioMedica reported that it has signed further contracts with Novartis which build on the collaboration with Novartis announced in May 2013 (Press release Oxford BioMedica, OCT 10, 2014, View Source [SID:1234500821]).
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Under the terms of the new agreement, Novartis will pay $14 million upfront including a $4.3 million equity subscription for a non-exclusive worldwide development and commercialisation licence in oncology under the Group’s LentiVector platform. OXB will manufacture lentiviral vectors expressing CTL019/CART-019. The manufacturing contract has an initial three year term. Additionally, OXB has granted Novartis an exclusive licence for the worldwide development and commercialisation of all Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell products arising from the process development collaboration.
According to the terms of the deal, OXB is eligible to receive up to $90 million from Novartis over the next three years. This amount includes the upfront licence payment, the equity investment, manufacturing and process development services and various performance incentives. The equity investment comprises 70,807,500 ordinary shares at 3.8p, the average middle market price for the 10 business days prior to 7 October 2014. OXB will also receive undisclosed royalties on potential future sales of CTL019 and other CAR T cell products covered by the agreement.
Commenting on the announcement, John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica, said:
"We are delighted to sign a second agreement with Novartis. Oxford BioMedica now has a breadth of leading capabilities in gene and cell therapy under-pinned by a dominant LentiVector patent estate (licensed to multiple companies), and a state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility. Today’s commitment from Novartis, including their equity investment, strongly endorses this. Our team has demonstrated its ability to solve complex gene and cell therapy manufacturing challenges, and to develop the state-of-the-art analytics essential for such programmes.
"Oxford BioMedica aims to help facilitate access to life changing treatments for many more patients with a variety of clinical indications and is now strongly positioned to deliver significant value-creating results against its strong asset base."