On December 5, 2014 Juno Therapeutics reported that it has entered into an agreement to obtain a license from Opus Bio, Inc. for a CAR-T cell product candidate targeting CD22, a protein expressed on most B cell leukemias and lymphomas (Press release Juno, DEC 5, 2014, View Source [SID:1234501086]). The CD22-targeted CAR T cell product candidate was developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Opus Bio. The NCI has begun enrollment in a Phase I trial evaluating pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
“This fully-human CD22 directed product candidate complements our existing CD19 directed portfolio, representing another important opportunity to investigate an immunotherapy addressing B cell malignancies,” said Juno CEO, Hans Bishop.
The NCI-sponsored trial is designed to enroll patients with CD22 positive cancers, with both CD19 positive and CD19 negative patients eligible for treatment.
CAR T cell therapy has the potential to address an important unmet need, according to Crystal Mackall, M.D., Chief, Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. There is still much to learn about these immunotherapies, but the early results are hopeful.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The license will not become effective until certain closing conditions are satisfied, including obtaining consent from the NCI.
About Juno’s Chimeric Antigen Receptor and High-affinity T Cell Receptor Platform
Juno is developing cell-based immunotherapies based on its chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, and high-affinity T cell receptor, or TCR, platform to genetically engineer T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. T cells are a type of white blood cell that identify and kill infected or abnormal cells, including cancer cells, in healthy individuals. Juno leverages its CAR and TCR platform to activate a patient’s own T cells so that they attack cancer cells. Through genetic engineering, a gene is inserted for a particular CAR or TCR construct into the T cell enabling it to better recognize cancer cells. The CAR technology directs T cells to recognize cancer cells based on the expression of specific proteins located on the cell surface, whereas the TCR technology provides the T cells with a specific T cell receptor to recognize protein fragments derived from either the surface or inside the cell. CAR construct typically uses a single chain variable fragment, or scFv, to recognize a protein of interest. The modified T cells can be infused into the patient or frozen and stored for later infusion.