DTIL Precision BioSciences Inc.
Upcoming Catalysts
| Drug | Stage | Catalyst Date |
|---|---|---|
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PBCAR0191
Relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia and R/R non-hodgkin lymphoma
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Phase 1/2
Phase 1/2
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Drug Pipeline
| Drug | Stage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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PBCAR269A
Multiple Myeloma
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Phase 1/2
Phase 1/2
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Phase 1/2a trial to commence 1H 2021.
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PBCAR20A
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL)
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Phase 1/2
Phase 1/2
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Phase 1/2 initiation of dosing announced April 7, 2020.
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PBCAR269A
Multiple myeloma
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Phase 1/2
Phase 1/2
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Phase 1/2 dosing of first patient announced June 8, 2020.
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Latest News
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DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL), a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform, today announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Derek Jantz, Ph.D., will participate in a fireside chat at the Piper Sandler 32nd Annual Virtual Healthcare Conference, November 30 – December 3, 2020.
This fireside chat has been pre-recorded and is now available for registered attendees via the Piper Sandler conference site until December 3. It is also available on Precision's website, www.PrecisionBiosciences.com in the Investors and Media section under Events and Presentations.
About Precision BioSciences, Inc.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life (DTIL) with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform. ARCUS is a highly specific and versatile genome editing platform that was designed with therapeutic safety, delivery, and control in mind. Using ARCUS, the Company's pipeline consists of multiple "off-the-shelf" CAR T immunotherapy clinical candidates and several in vivo gene correction therapy candidates to cure genetic and infectious diseases where no adequate treatments exist. For more information about Precision BioSciences please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.Investor Contact:
Alex Kelly
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
[email protected]
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Lilly and Precision BioSciences Announce Genome Editing Research Collaboration and License AgreementView Full Article Hide Full Article
INDIANAPOLIS, and DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) today announced a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement to utilize Precision's proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform for the research and development of potential in vivo therapies for genetic disorders, with an initial focus on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and two other undisclosed gene targets.
Genome editing technologies enable precise editing of the DNA of a living organism, opening up the possibility of correcting genetic problems at their source. ARCUS is a unique, proprietary, and versatile genome editing platform with attributes including specificity, ability to make a variety of efficient edits (knock-in, knock-out, and repair), and small size, thereby enabling a range of therapeutic editing. The platform is derived from a natural genome-editing enzyme called I-CreI, a homing endonuclease that can be optimized to control for potency and specificity.
Under the terms of the agreement, Precision will receive an upfront cash payment of $100 million, as well as an equity investment by Lilly of $35 million in Precision's common stock. Precision is also eligible to receive up to $420 million in potential development and commercialization milestones per product, as well as tiered royalties ranging from the mid-single digits to low-teens on product sales should Lilly successfully commercialize a therapy from the collaboration. Precision will lead pre-clinical research and IND-enabling activities, with Lilly then assuming responsibility for clinical development and commercialization. Lilly will have the right to select up to three additional gene targets for this collaboration. Precision can co-fund clinical development of one product in exchange for an increased royalty rate on co-funded product sales.
"Gene-edited therapies are emerging as a promising approach to help patients afflicted with genetic conditions," said Ruth Gimeno, Ph.D., vice president of diabetes and metabolic research at Lilly. "We look forward to working closely with Precision's scientific team and leveraging their platform to develop and deliver breakthrough medicines for untreated genetic disorders."
"This collaboration with Precision BioSciences represents another milestone in the realization of our vision to create medicines with transformational potential, using new therapeutic modalities such as gene editing to tackle targets and indications which were previously undruggable," added Andrew Adams, Ph.D., vice president of new therapeutic modalities at Lilly.
"We look forward to working with Lilly to leverage our deep understanding of in vivo gene editing and experience with ARCUS to develop new therapies, including a potentially transformative treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy," said Derek Jantz, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Precision BioSciences. "Collaborating with Lilly, a global healthcare leader with strong clinical and commercial experience in difficult-to-treat diseases, will help us accelerate our work aimed to solve genetic diseases with unique editing challenges."
This transaction is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions. This transaction will be reflected in Lilly's reported results and financial guidance according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). There will be no change to Lilly's 2020 non-GAAP earnings per share guidance as a result of this transaction.
Precision BioSciences Conference Call and Webcast Information
Precision's management team will host a conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today, Friday, November 20, 2020 to discuss the collaboration. The dial-in conference call numbers for domestic and international callers are (866) 996-7202 and (270) 215-9609, respectively. The conference ID number for the call is 3135225. Participants may access the live webcast on Precision's website https://investor.precisionbiosciences.com/events-and-presentations in the Investors and Media section under Events and Presentations. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on Precision's website.
About ARCUS
ARCUS® is a proprietary genome editing technology discovered and developed by scientists at Precision BioSciences. It uses sequence-specific DNA-cutting enzymes, or nucleases, that are designed to either insert (knock-in), remove (knock-out), or repair DNA of living cells and organisms. ARCUS is based on a naturally occurring genome editing enzyme, I-CreI that evolved in the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to make highly specific cuts in cellular DNA. Precision's platform and products are protected by a comprehensive portfolio including more than 65 patents to date.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com. C-LLYAbout Precision BioSciences, Inc.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life (DTIL) with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform. ARCUS is a highly specific and versatile genome editing platform that was designed with therapeutic safety, delivery, and control in mind. Using ARCUS, the Company's pipeline consists of multiple "off-the-shelf" CAR T immunotherapy clinical candidates and several in vivo gene correction therapy candidates to cure genetic and infectious diseases where no adequate treatments exist. For more information about Precision BioSciences please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.Lilly Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about the benefits of a collaboration between Lilly and Precision BioSciences, and reflects Lilly's current beliefs. However, as with any such undertaking, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of drug development and commercialization. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that Lilly will realize the expected benefits of the collaboration, or that the collaboration will yield commercially successful products. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from Lilly's expectations, please see Lilly's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.Precision Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release regarding Precision's future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements regarding the expected benefits of the collaboration, that the collaboration will yield commercially successful products and the expected milestone and royalty payments. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "anticipates," "believe," "continue," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan to," "potential," "will," and other similar words or expressions, or the negative of these words or similar words or expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors, including without limitation, the risks referred to under the section "Risk Factors" in Precision's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2020, as such factors may be updated from time to time in Precision's other filings with the SEC, which filings are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and the Investors & Media page of Precision's website at https://investor.precisionbiosciences.com. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable law, Precision has no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.Refer to:
Mark Taylor; [email protected]; (317) 276-5795 (Lilly Media)
Kevin Hern; [email protected]; (317) 277-1838 (Lilly Investors)
Maurissa Messier; [email protected]; (Precision Media)
Alex Kelly; [email protected]; (Precision Investors)
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lilly-and-precision-biosciences-announce-genome-editing-research-collaboration-and-license-agreement-301177966.htmlSOURCE Eli Lilly and Company
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Expanded allogeneic CAR T development collaboration with Servier to include four new programs targeting hematological and solid tumors
Advanced CAR T clinical pipeline, including a clinical collaboration with SpringWorks to evaluate PBCAR269A in combination with nirogacestat
Prevailed in U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings upholding allogeneic CAR T patents
Expect to report updated interim data from Phase 1/2a study of PBCAR0191 by YE20
DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL) a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020 and provided a business update.
"Our achievements from this past quarter reflect increasing momentum with the ARCUS genome editing platform to develop a novel pipeline of allogeneic CAR T and in vivo gene correction therapeutic candidates," said Matt Kane, CEO and co-founder of Precision BioSciences. "For our clinical portfolio, we expanded our existing partnership with Servier by adding four new targets, including two solid tumor and two hematologic programs, and entered a new clinical collaboration with SpringWorks Therapeutics for our multiple myeloma study. The PTAB issued judgements in our favor in both of the patent interferences involving our patented single-step CAR knock-in/T cell receptor (TCR) knock-out approach, which underscores the novelty of this precise editing process for allogeneic CAR T cell therapies as part of the emerging landscape in oncology."
Recent Developments and Upcoming Milestones:
Allogeneic CAR T Portfolio:
Expanded Development Collaboration with Servier: In September 2020, Precision announced, in collaboration with Servier, that the companies had added two additional hematological cancer targets beyond CD19 and two new solid tumor targets to its existing CAR T development and commercial license agreement. With the addition of these new targets, Precision expects to receive milestone payments in the remainder of 2020 and in 2021. Precision may also be eligible to receive option fees, as well as clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments in addition to royalties on product sales.
PBCAR0191: In August 2020, Precision announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track Designation to PBCAR0191 for B-ALL. Precision also holds Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for this program in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). PBCAR0191 is being developed in collaboration with Servier. Precision expects to present updated interim clinical data from both the NHL and B-ALL cohorts of this trial before year-end 2020 via a Company-sponsored event.
PBCAR269A: In September 2020, Precision announced that the FDA granted Fast Track Designation for PBCAR269A, Precision's wholly-owned investigational allogeneic CAR T candidate targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), for the treatment of R/R multiple myeloma. PBCAR269A was also previously granted Orphan Drug Designation for this indication by the FDA.
Also, in September 2020, Precision announced a clinical collaboration with SpringWorks Therapeutics to evaluate PBCAR269A in combination with nirogacestat, SpringWorks' investigational gamma secretase inhibitor. The companies have formed a joint steering committee to oversee the combination arm of Precision's Phase 1/2a clinical study, which is expected to commence in the first half of 2021, pending discussions with regulators.
PBCAR020A: Precision continues to enroll patients in the PBCAR020A, a wholly-owned investigational allogeneic anti-CD20 CAR T therapy, in patients with R/R NHL including patients with R/R chronic lymphocytic leukemia or R/R small lymphocytic lymphoma.
In Vivo Gene Correction Portfolio:
PH1 Program: Pre-clinical research has continued to progress for Precision's wholly-owned primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1) gene correction program, which is designed to use ARCUS to knock-out the HAO1 gene as a potential one-time treatment for this rare genetic disease. The Company expects to provide an update on this program in the first half of 2021.
Corporate:
Intellectual Property Protection: Precision continued to expand its intellectual property portfolio which, to-date, includes over 65 issued patents in the U.S. and other countries directed to the ARCUS platform and its uses. Precision has recently been issued several patents relating to its CAR T programs, including a U.S. patent with composition of matter claims for Precision's proprietary Novel 6 (N6) co-stimulatory domain used in its CAR T cell candidates. Precision also prevailed in two patent interference proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office involving certain CAR T patents owned by Precision. Specifically, the involved patents relate to allogeneic CAR T cells produced by inserting a gene encoding a CAR into the TCR alpha chain locus, as well as methods of using those cells for cancer immunotherapy. In the interference proceedings, a third party argued that it had invented the technology in 2012. The PTAB, however, found that the third-party patent application did not satisfy the written description requirement and rejected these claims, while maintaining the claims in all of Precision's involved patents.
Alex Kelly Appointed Chief Corporate Affairs Officer: Mr. Kelly joined Precision in October 2020 with extensive leadership experience in communications for biopharmaceutical companies. Most recently he was Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer at Allergan where he was also President of the Allergan Foundation. He will oversee all investor relations and corporate communications activities at Precision.
Elo Life Systems:
Alec Hayes, Ph.D. Appointed Vice President of Technology and Products at Elo Life Systems: Dr. Hayes joined Elo in September 2020 from the Coca-Cola Company, where he was Technical Director of Agricultural Technologies, and brings 20 years of technical leadership and industry experience in translational agriculture. He is responsible for Elo's research and development pipeline and strategic expansion of capabilities to accelerate product development.
Quarter Ended September 30, 2020 Financial Results:
Cash and Cash Equivalents: As of September 30, 2020, Precision had approximately $104.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. The Company expects that existing cash, cash equivalents, expected operational receipts, and available credit will be sufficient to fund operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2022.
Revenues: Total revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 were $7.4 million, compared to $4.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2019. The increase of $2.5 million in revenue was primarily the result of an increase in collaboration revenue with Servier, offset by a decrease in collaboration revenue from Gilead.
Research and Development Expenses: Research and development expenses were $24.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, as compared to $19.8 million for the same period in 2019. The increase of $5.1 million was primarily due to increases in direct research and development expenses related to our ongoing CD19 clinical program as well as increases in employee-related costs associated with increased headcount to support our technology platform development and manufacturing capabilities.
General and Administrative Expenses: General and administrative expenses were $8.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, as compared to $7.1 million for the same period in 2019. The increase of $1.4 million was primarily due to costs associated with the Company's growing infrastructure needs.
Net Loss: Net loss was $26.0 million, or $(0.50) per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, compared to a net loss of $20.7 million, or $(0.41) per share, for the same period in 2019.
About Precision BioSciences, Inc.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life (DTIL) with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform. ARCUS is a highly specific and versatile genome editing platform that was designed with therapeutic safety, delivery, and control in mind. Using ARCUS, the Company's pipeline consists of multiple "off-the-shelf" CAR T immunotherapy clinical candidates and several in vivo gene correction therapy candidates to cure genetic and infectious diseases where no adequate treatments exist. For more information about Precision BioSciences, please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.About Precision's Collaboration with Servier
Under the terms of the agreement with Servier, Precision is solely responsible for early-stage research activities as well as PBCAR0191 Phase 1/2a clinical trial execution and clinical supply. Servier has the exclusive right to opt in for late-stage development and commercialization, and Precision has the right to participate in the development and commercialization of any licensed products resulting from the collaboration through a 50/50 co-development and co-promotion option in the United States.Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's timing of clinical trials and results therefrom, including, without limitation, the expected timing of clinical updates and interim data reports related to PBCAR0191, of the commencement of the expanded Phase 1/2a clinical study for PBCAR269A, of updates regarding the Company's PH1 program and of any potential milestone payments. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "should," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "target," "mission," "may," "will," "would," "should," "could," "target," "potential," "project," "predict," "contemplate," "potential," or the negative thereof and similar words and expressions.Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us. Such statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various important factors, including, but not limited to: our ability to become profitable; our ability to procure sufficient funding and requirements under our current debt instruments; and effects of restrictions thereunder; risks associated with raising additional capital; our operating expenses and our ability to predict what those expenses will be; our limited operating history; the success of our programs and product candidates in which we expend our resources; our limited ability or inability to assess the safety and efficacy of our product candidates; our dependence on our ARCUS technology; the initiation, cost, timing, progress, achievement of milestones and results of research and development activities, preclinical or greenhouse studies and clinical or field trials; public perception about genome editing technology and its applications; competition in the genome editing, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology fields; our or our collaborators' ability to identify, develop and commercialize product candidates; pending and potential liability lawsuits and penalties against us or our collaborators related to our technology and our product candidates; the U.S. and foreign regulatory landscape applicable to our and our collaborators' development of product candidates; our or our collaborators' ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, and any related restrictions, limitations and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate; our or our collaborators' ability to advance product candidates into, and successfully design, implement and complete, clinical or field trials; potential manufacturing problems associated with the development or commercialization of any of our product candidates; our ability to obtain an adequate supply of T cells from qualified donors; our ability to achieve our anticipated operating efficiencies at our manufacturing facility; delays or difficulties in our and our collaborators' ability to enroll patients; changes in interim "top-line" and initial data that we announce or publish; if our product candidates do not work as intended or cause undesirable side effects; risks associated with applicable healthcare, data protection, privacy and security regulations and our compliance therewith; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our product candidates; the success of our existing collaboration agreements, and our ability to enter into new collaboration arrangements; our current and future relationships with and reliance on third parties including suppliers and manufacturers; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and any of our product candidates; potential litigation relating to infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights; our ability to effectively manage the growth of our operations; our ability to attract, retain, and motivate key executives and personnel; market and economic conditions; effects of system failures and security breaches; effects of natural and manmade disasters, public health emergencies and other natural catastrophic events effects of the outbreak of COVID-19, or any pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease; insurance expenses and exposure to uninsured liabilities; and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2020, as updated as updated in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2020 to be filed with the SEC, and as any such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and the Investors & Media page of our website at investor.precisionbiosciences.com.
All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Investor Contact:
Alex Kelly
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
[email protected]Media Contact:
Maurissa Messier
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
[email protected]Precision BioSciences, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (In thousands, except share and per share amounts) (Unaudited) For the Three Months Ended
September 30,For the Nine Months Ended
September 30,2020 2019 2020 2019 Revenue $ 7,363 $ 4,865 $ 15,439 $ 15,716 Operating expenses Research and development 24,873 19,791 74,935 62,512 General and administrative 8,534 7,052 26,852 18,547 Total operating expenses 33,407 26,843 101,787 81,059 Loss from operations (26,044 ) (21,978 ) (86,348 ) (65,343 ) Other income (expense), net: Change in fair value of convertible notes payable — — — (9,758 ) Interest expense — — — (182 ) Interest income 28 1,236 795 3,322 Total other income (expense), net 28 1,236 795 (6,618 ) Net loss and net loss attributable to common stockholders $ (26,016 ) $ (20,742 ) $ (85,553 ) $ (71,961 ) Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders-
basic and diluted$ (0.50 ) $ (0.41 ) $ (1.65 ) $ (1.85 ) Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding-
basic and diluted52,346,715 50,623,665 51,858,032 39,002,304 Precision BioSciences, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets Data (In thousands) (Unaudited) September 30, 2020 December 31, 2019 Cash and cash equivalents $ 104,148 $ 180,886 Working capital 80,577 166,740 Total assets 168,687 235,233 Total stockholders' equity $ 63,824 $ 138,314 -
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DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform, today announced that it will publish financial results for the third quarter of 2020 and provide a business update on Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
About Precision BioSciences, Inc.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life (DTIL) with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform. ARCUS is a highly specific and versatile genome editing platform that was designed with therapeutic safety, delivery, and control in mind. Using ARCUS, the Company's pipeline consists of multiple "off-the-shelf" CAR T immunotherapy clinical candidates and several in vivo gene correction therapy candidates to cure genetic and infectious diseases where no adequate treatments exist. For more information about Precision BioSciences, please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.Investor Contact:
Alex Kelly
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
[email protected] -
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DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTIL), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing allogeneic CAR T and in vivo gene correction therapies with its ARCUS® genome editing platform, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ruled in favor of Precision BioSciences in two patent interference proceedings that challenged nine U.S. patents owned by Precision.
The patents, which issued in 2018, relate to Precision BioSciences' allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell platform. Specifically, the patents relate to allogeneic CAR T cells produced by inserting a gene encoding a CAR into the T cell receptor (TCR) alpha chain (TRAC) locus, as well as methods of using those cells for cancer immunotherapy. CAR T cells produced using this single-step process have exhibited consistent performance, been manufactured at large scale and reduced cost, and shown to protect patients from graft vs. host disease. In the interference proceedings, a third party argued that it had invented the technology in 2012. The PTAB, however, found that the third-party patent application did not satisfy the written description requirement and rejected these claims while maintaining the claims in all nine of Precision's patents.
"We are very pleased that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board quickly rejected this challenge and affirmed Precision's intellectual property around our patented single-step CAR knock-in/TCR knock-out approach," said Derek Jantz, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Precision. "Although our patent claims encompass the use of any gene editing technology to produce these allogeneic CAR T cells, we believe that ARCUS is the best gene editor for this purpose due to its ability to very efficiently target the insertion of DNA into the genome."
The proceedings before the PTAB were U.S. Interference Nos. 106,117 and 106,118. The third party has the right to appeal the decisions. The Precision BioSciences patents involved were U.S. Pat. No. 9,889,160, U.S. Pat. No. Patent 9,889,161, U.S. Pat. No. 9,950,010, U.S. Pat. No. 9,950,011, U.S. Pat. No. 9,969,975, U.S. Pat. No. 9,993,501, U.S. Pat. No. 9,993,502, U.S. Pat. No. 10,093,899, and U.S. Pat. No. 10,093,900. Precision BioSciences was represented by Wolf Greenfield & Sacks PC.
About Precision's Allogeneic CAR T Platform
Precision is advancing a pipeline of cell-phenotype optimized allogeneic CAR T therapies, leveraging fully scaled, proprietary manufacturing processes. The platform is designed to maximize the number of patients who can potentially benefit from CAR T therapy. Precision carefully selects high-quality T cells derived from healthy donors as starting material, then utilizes its unique ARCUS genome editing technology to modify the cells via a single-step engineering process. By inserting the CAR gene at the T cell receptor (TCR) locus, this process knocks in the CAR while knocking out the TCR, creating a consistent product that can be reliably and rapidly manufactured that is designed to prevent graft-versus-host disease. Precision optimizes its CAR T therapy candidates for immune cell expansion in the body by maintaining a high proportion of naïve and central memory CAR T cells throughout the manufacturing process and in the final product.About Precision BioSciences, Inc.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving life (DTIL) with its novel and proprietary ARCUS® genome editing platform. ARCUS is a highly specific and versatile genome editing platform that was designed with therapeutic safety, delivery, and control in mind. Using ARCUS, the Company's pipeline consists of multiple "off-the-shelf" CAR T immunotherapy clinical candidates and several in vivo gene correction therapy candidates to cure genetic and infectious diseases where no adequate treatments exist. For more information about Precision BioSciences please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's CAR T therapies and the success of its one-step genome editing process. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "should," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "target," "mission," "may," "will," "would," "should," "could," "target," "project," "predict," "contemplate," "potential," or the negative thereof and similar words and expressions.Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us. Such statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various important factors, including, but not limited to: our ability to become profitable; our ability to procure sufficient funding and requirements under our current debt instruments; our operating expenses and our ability to predict what those expenses will be; our limited operating history; the success of our programs and product candidates in which we expend our resources; our dependence on our ARCUS technology; the initiation, cost, timing, progress, achievement of milestones and results of research and development activities, preclinical or greenhouse studies and clinical or field trials; public perception about genome editing technology and its applications; competition in the genome editing, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology fields; our or our collaborators' ability to identify, develop and commercialize product candidates; pending and potential liability lawsuits and penalties against us or our collaborators related to our technology and our product candidates; the U.S. and foreign regulatory landscape applicable to our and our collaborators' development of product candidates; our or our collaborators' ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, and any related restrictions, limitations and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate; our or our collaborators' ability to advance product candidates into, and successfully design, implement and complete, clinical or field trials; potential manufacturing problems associated with the development or commercialization of any of our product candidates; our ability to achieve our anticipated operating efficiencies at our manufacturing facility; delays or difficulties in our and our collaborators' ability to enroll patients; if our product candidates do not work as intended or cause undesirable side effects; risks associated with applicable healthcare, data privacy and security regulations and our compliance therewith; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our product candidates; the success of our existing collaboration agreements, and our ability to enter into new collaboration arrangements; our current and future relationships with third parties including suppliers and manufacturers; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and any of our product candidates; potential litigation relating to infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights; our ability to effectively manage the growth of our operations; our ability to attract, retain, and motivate key scientific and management personnel; market and economic conditions; effects of natural and manmade disasters, public health emergencies and other natural catastrophic events effects of the outbreak of COVID-19, or any pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease; insurance expenses and exposure to uninsured liabilities; and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2020, as any such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and the Investors & Media page of our website at investor.precisionbiosciences.com.
All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Investor Contact:
Alex Kelly
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
[email protected]Media Contact:
Maurissa Messier
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
[email protected]