Juno Therapeutics Inc, Novartis, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Pennsylvania deal

Juno granted Novartis a non-exclusive sublicense to chimeric antigen receptor technology targeting CD19 to resolve a patent suit related to U.S. Patent No. 8,399,645, which covers therapeutic uses of chimeric cell membrane receptors. St. Jude had filed suit against the university in 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleging breach of materials transfer agreements related to the provision of biologic materials by St. Jude to the university. UPenn counterclaimed that its cell constructs were different from St. Jude’s. Juno, which licensed chimeric antigen receptor technology from St. Jude, and Novartis, which licensed similar technology from UPenn, later intervened on behalf of their partners (see BioCentury, March 17, 2014). ...