Kite Pharma & Bluebird Bio To Co-develop T Cell Cell Therapy Products

(RTTNews) - Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) and bluebird bio, Inc. (BLUE) announced they have entered into a collaboration agreement to co-develop and co-commercialize second generation T cell receptor product candidates directed against the human papillomavirus type 16 E6 oncoprotein incorporating gene editing and lentiviral technologies.

Bluebird bio has a platform comprised of lentiviral gene delivery and gene editing capabilities, with a focus on rare diseases and cancer immunotherapies.

"Through this collaboration, we will have access to our partner's strong science expertise and enabling technologies to further enhance one of our key TCR programs and to evaluate gene editing technology in the context of T cell therapy," said Arie Belldegrun, Kite's CEO.

Kite Pharma will lead the program in the U.S., and bluebird bio will have the option to lead the program in the European Union. Both companies will share overall costs, and profits will be equally split between the companies.