Kite and HiFiBiO intend to adapt HiFiBiO’s proprietary single cell technology platform to create a high throughput approach that will potentially allow for the in-depth screening of TCR repertoires from patient samples to identify shared antigen and neoantigen TCRs for use in adoptive cellular therapies.
Neoantigens arise from tumor-specific mutations that are unique to each patient’s cancer, offering the potential for more targeted antitumor activity.
Under the terms of the agreement, HiFiBiO will receive a $10 million upfront payment and will be eligible for additional payments based on the achievement of certain research milestones.
Kite will have an exclusive option to license HiFiBiO’s platform to screen T cell repertoires and to identify TCRs for use in TCR engineered T cell therapies with a corresponding payment to HiFiBiO.
Gilead’s executive vice president of oncology therapeutics and head, cell therapy Dr Alessandro Riva said: “Neoantigen-based cell therapy is a very exciting, yet complex, area of research that has the potential to transform the way we treat many solid tumors.
“We are excited about this collaboration with HiFiBiO, which will build upon our existing capabilities focused on discovering cell therapies which target patient-specific tumor neoantigens.”
HiFiBiO Therapeutics president and CEO Dr Liang Schweizer said: “We are proud that our proprietary single cell technology platform, which is utilized to support the rapid progression of our novel antibody therapeutics pipeline, will now also be implemented by Kite for the development of novel cell therapies targeting neoantigens.”
Source: Company Press Release