Juno teams up with Fate

Written by Victoria English

Juno Therapeutics Inc, which has technology for genetically engineering T cells, has teamed up with Fate Therapeutics Inc to find out whether there is a role for small molecules in improving the profile of engineered T cells as therapies. The four-year collaboration takes T cell immunotherapy one step further by potentially introducing new modulators into the mix of technologies that are now being investigated globally for a wide range of cancers. The collaboration was announced on 6 May.

Juno teams up with Fate

Juno Therapeutics Inc, which has technology for genetically engineering T cells, has teamed up with Fate Therapeutics Inc to find out whether there is a role for small molecules in improving the profile of engineered T cells as therapies. The four-year collaboration takes T cell immunotherapy one step further by potentially introducing new modulators into the mix of technologies that are now being investigated globally for a wide range of cancers. The collaboration was announced on 6 May.

“Modulating the properties of immunological cells enables interrogation of new avenues of T cell manipulation and provides an opportunity to enhance the therapeutic profile of our genetically-engineered T cell product candidates,” said Hans Bishop, chief executive of Juno, in a statement.

Under the collaboration, Fate will be responsible for screening and identifying small molecules that modulate the biological properties of engineered T cells. Juno will take charge of development and commercialisation of prospective immunotherapies, incorporating Fate’s small molecule modulators.

Juno is to make an upfront payment to Fate of $5 million and acquire one million shares of Fate’s common stock at $8 per share. It will also fund mutual collaboration activities for the four-term term of the agreement. Fate will be eligible to receive $50 million in target selection fees and clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones as well as low single-digit royalties on any sales.

This is another significant event for Juno which had one of the biotech industry’s most successful initial public share offerings in late 2014. The IPO came only one year after the company was launched. Its founders are the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, along with the Seattle (Washington) Children’s Research Institute.

Copyright 2015 Evernow Publishing Ltd