SANTA MONICA, Calif. & AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neogene Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of fully individualized T cell receptor (TCR) therapies to treat cancer, today announced an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for a portfolio of TCRs targeting KRAS and TP53 mutations for the treatment of patients with cancer. These TCRs were discovered in the laboratory of Steven Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Surgery at the NCI and a pioneer in the fields of immunotherapy and gene therapy for patients with advanced cancers.
This portfolio of TP53 and KRAS targeted T cell therapies complements Neogene’s proprietary neoantigen TCR discovery and T cell engineering platform. Neogene’s platform aims to identify neoantigens and suitable TCRs to target for individual patients and enable the engineering of T cells with these neoantigen-specific TCRs for patients suffering from a broad spectrum of solid tumors.
“TP53 and KRAS are among the most commonly mutated genes in cancer, however, very few therapies specifically targeting these mutations are currently available, and there is a high unmet need for effective treatment options,” said Raphaël Rousseau, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of Neogene Therapeutics. “We’re excited to have entered into this agreement with the NIH to expand our current development program and address this need through the development of TCR-engineered T cell therapies for patients with tumors that harbor these common mutations.”
Neogene has been granted worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize this TCR portfolio of autologous and allogeneic T cell therapy product candidates that are engineered with CRISPR technology for the treatment or prevention of cancer.
“Adding these TCRs to our pipeline will enable Neogene to flexibly develop them alone or in combination with individualized neoantigen TCR cell therapies, providing us with the opportunity to diversify our pipeline and potentially target multiple neoantigens in individual patients,” said Carsten Linnemann, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Neogene Therapeutics. “This is a strategic step toward strengthening Neogene’s breadth and position as a global leader in the development of TCR therapies for the treatment of solid cancers.”
Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement, Neogene will provide an upfront payment and certain clinical, regulatory, and sales milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales of products covered by the license.
About Neogene Therapeutics
Neogene Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company pioneering the development of next-generation, fully individualized engineered T cells therapies for a broad spectrum of cancers. Neogene’s engineered T cells target mutated proteins, or neoantigens, found in cancer cells as a consequence of cancer-associated DNA mutations. Neoantigens render tumor cells vulnerable to detection by T cells. Neogene’s proprietary technology platform aims to identify TCR genes with specificity for neoantigens from tumor biopsies. Neogene’s novel approach intends to deliver a tailored set of TCR genes for each individual patient, which will be engineered into patient-derived T cells directing them toward neoantigens in tumor cells, with the goal of providing a fully individualized engineered T cell therapy for cancer.
For more information, please visit www.neogene.com and follow Neogene Therapeutics on LinkedIn.
