Kite Pharma Announces Exclusive License with the National Institutes of Health for T Cell Receptor (TCR)-Based Products to Treat Tumors Expressing MAGE

Kite Pharma, Inc.

, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT™) products for the treatment of cancer, today announced that the Company has entered into an exclusive, worldwide license with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for intellectual property related to T Cell Receptor (TCR)-based product candidates directed against MAGE A3 and A3/A6 antigens for the treatment of tumors expressing MAGE, which include lung, pancreatic, gastric, and breast cancers, among others. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), with Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Surgery at the NCI and a special advisor to Kite, as principal investigator, is currently conducting two Phase 1-2a clinical trials of TCR-based product candidates targeting the MAGE antigens under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Kite and the NCI. Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement, NIH will receive from Kite an upfront payment and certain clinical, regulatory, and sales milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales of products covered by the license. "We are pleased to announce this license with NIH, which further expands our therapeutic pipeline programs to treat diverse solid tumors," stated Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, Kite's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that our broad portfolio of TCR product candidates, including those targeting MAGE antigens, holds great promise in addressing the significant unmet needs of patients."