On June 7, 2016 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE) ("Sorrento"), an antibody-centric, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing new treatments for cancer and other unmet medical needs, reported its subsidiary TNK Therapeutics, Inc. ("TNK") has entered into a joint venture agreement ("JVA") with Shenyang Sunshine Pharmaceutical Company Ltd ("3SBio") to develop and commercialize proprietary immunotherapies, including those developed from, including or using TNK’s chimeric antigen receptor T cell ("CAR-T") technology targeting carcinoembryonic antigen ("CEA") positive cancers (Press release, Sorrento Therapeutics, JUN 7, 2016, View Source [SID:1234513131]). 3SBio is a leading China-based biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing biopharmaceutical products.
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Under the terms of the JVA, 3SBio will make total contributions of $10 million to the joint venture and TNK will grant the joint venture an exclusive license to the CEA CAR-T technology and two additional CARs for cellular therapy for the Greater China market, including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. 3SBio will initially own 51% of the joint venture while TNK will initially hold the remaining 49%.
"We are pleased that 3SBio, a leading biotechnology company in China, has recognized the value of our CAR-T technologies and we look forward to working with them to advance the development of our novel anti-cancer cellular therapies," said Dr. Henry Ji, President and CEO of Sorrento.
"3SBio is committed to introducing innovative biologic medicines for unmet medical needs in China and we look forward to collaborating with Sorrento to advance our CAR-T program into clinical trials in China. CAR-T technology is an important and promising approach to treating cancers, particularly for patients in advanced or metastatic stages of the disease. Our first candidate is aimed at CEA-positive cancers, which include colorectal, lung, liver and breast cancers," commented Dr. Jing Lou, Chairman and CEO of 3SBio.