Gritstone Oncology and Arbutus Biopharma Announce LNP Technology Licensing Agreement to Develop Novel RNA-Based Personalized Neoantigen Immunotherapies for Cancer Patients

On October 18, 2017 Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq:ABUS), an industry-leading hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutic solutions company, and Gritstone Oncology, a leader in personalized cancer immunotherapies, reported a collaboration and license agreement (Press release, Arbutus Biopharma, OCT 18, 2017, View Source [SID1234520997]). Arbutus is deploying its proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology to deliver Gritstone’s RNA-based neoantigen immunotherapy products.

Under the terms of this license agreement, Gritstone obtains worldwide access to Arbutus’ portfolio of proprietary and clinically validated LNP products and associated intellectual property. Gritstone will pay Arbutus an upfront payment, payments for achievement of development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as royalties. In addition, Gritstone will reimburse Arbutus for conducting technology development and providing manufacturing and regulatory support for Gritstone’s product candidates. The license is specifically directed to the novel RNA-based platform for neoantigen immunotherapies.

“The recent phase III validation of Arbutus’ LNP platform makes them the natural partner for Gritstone as we drive our proprietary two-component immunotherapy program into the clinic in mid-2018,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Gritstone Oncology. “Successful exploratory preclinical work with Arbutus fueled a strong bilateral desire to formalize and extend our relationship. We’re excited to continue our work with the team at Arbutus and its LNP technology as we advance our pipeline of immunotherapy product candidates.”

“This agreement again represents validation of our industry-leading LNP technology. We are excited to be working with Gritstone to advance their innovative personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer,” said Dr. Mark J. Murray, Arbutus’ President and CEO. “This transaction is part of realizing the value of our LNP platform, which has broad potential to deliver nucleic acid-based products including mRNA and gene editing therapeutics, and enable Arbutus to continue to focus on development of curative therapies for HBV.”