On January 7, 2019 bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) and Inhibrx, Inc. (Inhibrx) reported that they have entered into an exclusive license agreement to research, develop and commercialize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies using Inhibrx’s proprietary single domain antibody (sdAb) platform to multiple cancer targets (Press release, bluebird bio, JAN 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234532541]). The small size of sdAbs may enable the generation of more complex CAR T cell products such as those designed to combine additional functions into a single CAR molecule or recognize multiple tumor antigens simultaneously.
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"Access to the Inhibrx sdAb binder technology will allow us to combine the advancements we’ve made with our T cell therapy platform with their sdAb binder technology to generate novel cellular therapies with the potential to help patients in their fight against cancer," said Philip Gregory, D. Phil., chief scientific officer, bluebird bio. "The technology from Inhibrx adds to our growing portfolio of tools and technologies that we can combine with our internal lentiviral vector, CAR and T cell expertise to discover potential new product candidates designed to recognize tumor-specific proteins expressed by cancer cells and kill them upon engagement."
"We are pleased to have formalized our relationship with bluebird bio, allowing us to couple our proprietary sdAb platform with a leading cell therapy platform," said Brendan Eckelman, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Inhibrx. "Together with bluebird bio, we have generated compelling proof of concept preclinical data on the utility of incorporating our sdAbs into bluebird bio’s constructs for CAR-T cell generation."
Under the terms of the license agreement, Inhibrx will provide bluebird bio the exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize certain cell therapy products containing sdAbs directed to various cancer targets. bluebird bio will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of the cancer-targeting CAR-T products. Inhibrx received a $7.0 million upfront payment and is also entitled to receive specified developmental milestone payments as well as percentage tiered royalties on future product sales.