Chugai and Noile-Immune ink CAR-T licensing deal

Roche (ROG: SIX) majority-owned Japanese drugmaker Chugai Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4519) has entered into a license agreement for Noile-Immune Biotech’s proprietary PRIME (proliferation-inducing and migration-enhancing) CAR-T technology.

In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has been widely recognized as a new approach to cancer treatment by enhancing the immune system to attack cancer cells. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T cell) therapy is a type of cancer immunotherapy, in which a patient’s immune cells (T cells) are collected, transfected with a gene for an artificial chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which recognizes a cancer antigen, expanded in large numbers and returned to the patient’s body.

Noile-Immune Biotech also has a collaboration to develop next generation CAR-T with Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4502), as well as a deal with US T-cell therapy company Adaptimmune Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ADAP).