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A new biotech company with formidable founders and funding has joined a lawsuit that accuses the University of Pennsylvania of misappropriating key technology behind its breakthrough therapy for leukemia. <\/p>\n
The company, Juno Therapeutics Inc., was launched early last month by three major cancer institutes - including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - with a massive $120 million investment from leading venture capital firms. <\/p>\n
Juno's debut ups the ante in the high-stakes race to commercialize novel therapies that use the patient's immune \"T cells\" to fight cancer. While the approach is still highly experimental - it has worked primarily against certain blood malignancies - results of early clinical testing at Penn and other leading centers have electrified researchers, the biopharma industry, and patients. <\/p>\n
Indeed, Penn entered a much-publicized partnership with the global pharmaceutical giant Novartis in 2012, based on results from just the first three leukemia patients. <\/p>\n
Penn's T-cell therapy and its development deal are at the heart of the lawsuit that Juno Therapeutics has joined. <\/p>\n
Juno, based in Seattle, is a partnership of Sloan-Kettering, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Seattle Children's Research Institute. Last month, Juno signed a licensing agreement to commercialize T-cell technology patented by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, according to legal papers. <\/p>\n
The technology involves a \"chimeric antigen receptor,\" or CAR - a synthetic genetic structure that programs the patient's T cells to target and attack cancer. <\/p>\n
St. Jude is suing Penn, accusing the university of breaching an agreement to share St. Jude's CAR and infringing on St. Jude's patent. <\/p>\n
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Biotech firm joins suit against Penn's cancer therapy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new biotech company with formidable founders and funding has joined a lawsuit that accuses the University of Pennsylvania of misappropriating key technology behind its breakthrough therapy for leukemia. Continue reading