Novartis, U of Penn in deal for cancer immunotherapies
The University of Pennsylvania granted Novartis AG (SIX:NOVN; NYSE:NVS) exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immunotherapies for cancer. CAR-based immunotherapies are autologous T cells loaded with a lentiviral vector expressing a CAR, which consists of a cancer antigen-binding domain linked to CD3-zeta/CD137 immunostimulatory domains. Novartis plans to begin a Phase II trial next quarter of CART-19 in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The antigen-binding domain of CART-19 targets CD19, which is expressed on malignant B cells and B cell precursors.
In 2011, University of Pennsylvania researchers published data in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that CART-19-based immunotherapy led to complete remission at three weeks in a single patient with refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). ...