NAPSRx News: Amgen and Kite Pharma team up to develop T Cell immunotherapies

WASHINGTON - Jan. 6, 2015 - PRLog -- Amgen and Kite Pharma will join forces to develop and commercialize the next generation of novel Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapies. This strategic collaboration is aimed at discovering new therapeutic approaches in the immuno-oncology field by utilizing Kite's cell therapy (eACT™) platform and Amgen's broad range of cancer targets.

Kite Pharma will conduct the preclinical research and development process including cell manufacturing and processing through Investigational New Drug (IND) filing while Amgen will contribute the cancer targets.  According to the terms of the agreement, each company will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of their respective CAR therapeutic candidates, including all expenses incurred. Kite Pharma can earn up to $525 million in milestone payments per Amgen program  contingent on the successful completion of regulatory and commercialization milestones, plus tiered high single- to double-digit royalties for sales and the license of Kite's intellectual property for CAR T cell product. Amgen may also receive the same amount per Kite Program, plus tiered single-digit sales royalties.

"The intersection of immunology and oncology represents one of the most promising approaches to delivering significant impact for patients with cancer," said Sean E. Harper, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "With our existing immuno-oncology portfolio of cutting-edge technologies and expertise, we believe joining forces with Kite Pharma will leverage our targets and their leading CAR T cell platform to advance another new promising therapeutic approach to fight cancer."

"Amgen is an ideal partner for us, based on their strong presence in oncology and the company's broad array of cancer targets optimally suited for combining with our CAR technologies. We are proud to announce this unique collaboration and its validation of our R&D expertise, intellectual property position, and therapeutic manufacturing and processing capabilities," stated Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, Kite Pharma'spresident and chief executive officer. "We believe that the therapeutic candidates resulting from the collaboration will have the potential to dramatically transform CAR approaches and to become some of the most powerful therapies for the treatment of cancer."

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The NAPSRx® is a trade association for pharmaceutical sales reps, sales managers and sales trainers who work in the pharmaceutical industry. NAPSRx® provides Continuing Medical Education to its members as well as CNPR® Certification to candidates who look to enter a pharmaceutical sales career. The CNPR® Program represents a level of industry achievement and a demonstrated knowledge of pharmacology, medical terminology, pharmaceutical selling guidelines, physician selling techniques and industry standards. Upon successful completion of the training each student will receive the Certification Mark of the CNPR®.

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