Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) and Kyverna Therapeutics have announced a licensing and collaboration deal for an allogeneic CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy development to treat various B cell-mediated autoimmune disorders. Kyverna is a cell therapy company developing a novel class of therapies for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Kyvern received rights to use Intellia’s novel CRISPR/Cas9 allogeneic platform
Kyverna was granted rights to utilize Intellia’s patented ex vivo CRISPR/Cas9-based allogeneic technology to advance KYV-201, a next-gen CD19 CAR T-cell experimental candidate for the treatment of specific conditions autoimmune disorders, as part of the deal. Intellia got an ownership interest in Kyverna and placed a second investment in the company in exchange. Kyverna will oversee and fund KYV-201’s preclinical and clinical development.
Intellia will be entitled to commercial and development milestone payments and also royalties in the low to mid-single digits on future sales. Intellia could also execute an option to lead KYV-201 commercialization in the United States as per a co-development and co-marketing agreement. For example, suppose Intellia decides to jointly create and market KYV-201. In that case, it should pay an opt-in payment and share half of the development costs and possibly sales proceeds from KYV-201 commercialization in the United States. Outside of the United States, Kyverna retains all rights, and Intellia will earn lower royalty payments on net sales produced outside of the United States.
Intellia committed to leveraging genome editing tech
CEO of Intellia John Leonard said, “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. Today’s announcement is another example of our strategy to fully leverage the power of our genome editing technology to address diseases that are inadequately treated with existing medicines. While our core focus remains on advancing therapies within our own research and clinical pipeline, we recognize that our proprietary technology can have additional impact when we strategically partner with others who possess complementary capabilities.”
