Autolus Therapeutics and Noile-Immune Announce Licensing Agreement

LONDON, Nov. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, and Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, a biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies, today announced that they have entered into a license agreement whereby Autolus will have the right to develop CAR T cell therapies incorporating Noile-Immune’s PRIME (proliferation-inducing and migration-enhancing) technology secreting both IL-7 and CCL19. The PRIME technology is designed to improve proliferation and trafficking into solid tumors of both engineered CAR T cells as well as the patient’s own T cells.

Through the license agreement with Noile-Immune, Autolus has gained the right to incorporate the PRIME technology in its CAR T cell programs against a limited number of cancer targets. Autolus will make an upfront cash payment and milestone payments to Noile‑Immune, and Noile-Immune is also entitled to receive royalties on net sales of resulting products. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We have an emerging pipeline of CAR T cell products targeting solid tumors and are excited to add the Noile-Immune PRIME technology to our existing suite of T cell programming modules,” said Dr. Christian Itin, chairman and chief executive officer of Autolus.  “We believe the PRIME technology will help enhance the anti-tumor potential of CAR T cells and expand our ability to design and develop transformational CAR T therapies in a variety of solid tumor indications.”

“Autolus is a leader in the CAR T field, and we are very pleased that they have selected our PRIME technology for their solid tumor pipeline,” said Hidenobu Ishizaki, M.D., Ph.D., president & chief executive officer of Noile-Immune. “This agreement provides further endorsement of our technologies, which were invented by Dr. Koji Tamada, our scientific founder.  We look forward to continuing to contribute to, and develop, therapies that have the potential to transform the lives of patients.”

About Autolus Therapeutics plc
Autolus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Using a broad suite of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, the company is engineering precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and eliminate these cells. Autolus has a pipeline of product candidates in development for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors.  For more information please visit www.autolus.com.

About Noile-Immune
Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy products with breakthrough technology to eradicate cancer cells. The company aims to discover and develop innovative cancer immunotherapies through the partnerships with experts in academia including Yamaguchi University and The National Cancer Center Japan, and deliver the best-in-class therapies to patients as well.  For more information, please visit https://www.noile-immune.com/english/home/.

Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, and in some cases can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "could," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and "believes." These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Autolus’ financial condition and results of operations, as well as statements regarding the anticipated development of Autolus’ product candidates, including its intentions regarding the timing for providing further updates on the development of its product candidates, and the sufficiency of its cash resources. Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in Autolus' Annual Report on Form 20-F filed on November 23, 2018 as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Autolus' future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Autolus Investor and media contact:
Silvia Taylor
Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications
Autolus
+1-240-801-3850
s.taylor@autolus.com

UK:
Julia Wilson
+44 (0) 7818 430877
j.wilson@autolus.com

Noile-Immune contact:
Tsutom Tokashiki
Senior Vice President, Business
Noile-Immune Biotech
ir@noile-immune.com

Source: Autolus Therapeutics plc