Novartis, UPenn In Cancer R&D Alliance

Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania have entered an exclusive global collaboration to research, develop and commercialize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. The parties have also established a new R&D facility on the Penn campus, called the Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies (CACT).
 
As part of the transaction, Novartis acquired exclusive rights to CART-19, an investigational therapy currently being studied by Penn in a clinical trial. CART-19 targets a protein called CD19 that is associated with B-cell malignancies such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
 
Novartis was granted an exclusive worldwide license to CARs developed through the collaboration for all indications and CART-19. Novartis will provide an up-front payment, research funding, funding for the establishment of the CACT and milestone payments based on clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones and royalty payments. Novartis and Penn will build CACT on the Penn campus in Philadelphia to develop and manufacture adoptive T-cell immunotherapies.
 
“By combining Penn’s expertise on this pioneering technology with Novartis’ strength in bringing innovative therapies to patients, we have the potential to transform the future of cancer treatment,” said Hervé Hoppenot, president, Novartis Oncology.
 
“Initial data provide proof that this CAR therapy can activate a patient’s own immune system to fight cancerous tumors,” said Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine. “In partnering with Novartis, we aim to develop CAR therapies into commercial agents in the battle against cancer.”