Juno Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on re-engaging the body's immune system to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and Eureka Therapeutics for a novel, fully-human binding domain targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), along with binding domains against two additional undisclosed multiple myeloma targets to be used for the potential development and commercialization of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) cell therapies for patients with multiple myeloma.

The binding domains were developed under a collaboration agreement between Eureka Therapeutics and MSK. The parties expect the BCMA CAR to enter human testing as early as 1H2017.

“We are optimistic that CAR T therapy can be an important component in treating patients with multiple myeloma, and we are pleased to bring additional fully-human binding domains against BCMA and other targets into our program,” said Hy Levitsky, M.D., Juno’s chief scientific officer. “We believe that a multi-pronged approach may be necessary to treat this disease, and we will pursue more than one target against myeloma. The MSK and Eureka constructs are promising additions to our portfolio that will accelerate our efforts and provide additional opportunities to combat this disease.”

"We are pleased to work with Juno Therapeutics on developing CAR T therapies against multiple myeloma," said Dr. Cheng Liu, president and chief executive officer of Eureka Therapeutics. “Multiple myeloma is a devastating disease. For the past three years, we have been working with MSK to develop CAR T therapies against multiple myeloma, and we are delighted that Juno is able to use their broad expertise to bring these therapies to patients faster."

MSK and Eureka Therapeutics are eligible to receive an undisclosed upfront payment, additional payments upon the achievement of undisclosed clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones, and royalties on net sales.