First Allogeneic T-Cell Therapy BLA Submission to U.S. Food and Drug Administration
If Approved, Tab-cel Would be First Approved Therapy in U.S. for EBV+ PTLD
Acceptance of BLA Will Trigger $20 Million Milestone Payment from Pierre Fabre Laboratories, with Potential for Additional $60 Million Milestone Upon FDA Approval
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRA), a leader in T-cell immunotherapy, leveraging its novel allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) T-cell platform to develop transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that Atara has submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for tabelecleucel (tab-cel®) indicated as monotherapy for treatment of adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older with Epstein-Barr virus positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+ PTLD) who have received at least one prior therapy. For solid organ transplant patients, prior therapy includes chemotherapy unless chemotherapy is inappropriate. There are no FDA approved therapies in this treatment setting.
“The BLA submission for tab-cel represents a significant moment for Atara, our partner Pierre Fabre, and the broader allogeneic T-cell therapy field, and is a critical step towards our goal of delivering this first-of-its-kind treatment to EBV+ PTLD patients in the U.S.,” said Pascal Touchon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Atara. “I would like to thank the patients and physicians who participated in the tab-cel clinical trials, our long-time collaborators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as our internal teams for their remarkable dedication and hard work. We now look forward to continued collaboration with the FDA on its review and with Pierre Fabre as they actively prepare for the potential launch of this innovative therapy in the U.S.”
Tab-cel is an allogeneic, EBV-specific T-cell immunotherapy designed to target and eliminate EBV-infected cells. The BLA is supported by pivotal and supportive data covering more than 430 patients treated with tab-cel across multiple life-threatening diseases including the latest pivotal ALLELE study data that demonstrated a statistically significant 48.8% Objective Response Rate (ORR) (p