Genome editing company Intellia Therapeutics (NSDQ:NTLA) and cell therapy firm Kyverna Therapeutics have entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement to develop an allogeneic CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for various B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, Intellia (Cambridge, Massachusetts) will get an equity stake in Kyverna (Emeryville, California) and has made an additional investment in the company. In exchange, Kyverna will get exclusive rights to use Intellia’s platform to develop KYV-201, an investigational CD19 CAR-T cell therapy.
Under the deal, Intellia also can exercise an option to manage U.S. commercialization activities related to KYV-201 in partnership with Kyverna. In such an arrangement, Intellia would pay an opt-in fee and cover half of the development costs while sharing half of the future U.S. revenue related to the drug. Additionally, Intellia would also get royalties on net sales outside of the U.S.
“Intellia has built a novel CRISPR/Cas9-based allogeneic platform with the goal of developing safer and more effective therapies for a host of diseases. We are excited to license our allogeneic cell engineering platform to Kyverna for the development of a new autoimmune disease therapeutic product for patients,” said Intellia President and CEO Dr. John Leonard in a statement.
In related news, Kyverna recently inked a deal with the NIH to obtain exclusive rights to a clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. That agreement gives Kyverna rights to develop both autologous and allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.