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Intellia and ONK Therapeutics Announce Collaboration to Advance Allogeneic CRISPR-Edited NK Cell Therapies for the Treatment of Patients with Cancer
Collaboration combines Intellia’s genome editing platform with ONK’s optimized natural killer (NK) cell therapy platform Intellia grants ONK non-exclusive
About this update from Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Collaboration combines Intellia’s genome editing platform with ONK’s optimized natural killer (NK) cell therapy platform Intellia grants ONK non-exclusive rights to its ex vivo genome editing and LNP delivery technologies and exclusive rights to certain guide RNAs for up to five allogeneic CRISPR-edited NK cell therapies ONK is responsible for the research, clinical development and commercialization of engineered NK cell therapies derived from collaboration Intellia to receive global co-development and co-commercialization options for up to two CRISPR-edited NK cell therapies with lead commercialization rights in the U.S. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and GALWAY, Ireland and SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA), a leading genome editing company focused on developing curative therapies leveraging CRISPR-based technologies, and ONK Therapeutics Ltd., an innovative company dedicated to developing optimally engineered natural killer (NK) cell therapies to cure patients with cancer, today announced a licensing and collaboration agreement. NK cells are specialized, naturally occurring immune cells that play a critical role in immune activation against abnormal cells, including cancer cells. NK cells have gained significant attention in the field of cancer immunotherapy and various approaches are being explored to effectively develop and engineer NK cell-based cancer immunotherapy. The agreement grants ONK a non-exclusive license to Intellia’s proprietary ex vivo CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing platform and its lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based delivery technologies to develop up to five allogeneic NK cell therapies. ONK will receive exclusive rights to certain Intellia guide RNAs (gRNAs) resulting from the collaboration for use in engineering those NK cell products. ONK will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development for the engineered NK cell therapies covered under the agreement. Intellia will be eligible to receive up to $184 million per product in development and commercial milestone payments, as well as up to mid-single digit royalties on potential future sales. In addition, the agreement grants Intellia options to co-develop and co-commercialize up to two products worldwide with rights to lead commercialization in the U.S. ONK retains lead commercialization rights ex-U.S. This co-...