Lion, Moffitt Cancer Center partner to improve tumor infiltrating lymphocyte production

As part of the deal, Lion has licensed from Moffitt the rights to develop and commercialize new technologies to improve TIL production from melanoma, which may be applicable to other tumor types that historically have not produced therapeutic TILs.

The company said that the license is based on two provisional patent applications, filed under "Compositions and Methods for Improving Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes for Adoptive Cell Therapy."

Lion chief scientific officer Laszlo Radvanyi said TIL transfer can clearly confer a survival benefit to patients with melanoma, but it has been difficult to harvest TILs from other solid tumor types for therapeutic use.

"This licensing agreement with Moffitt gives us access to technologies that may allow us to enhance TIL production from these tumors, thereby unlocking the potential of TILs to treat, and possibly cure, certain cancers beyond melanoma," Radvanyi said.

Lion chairman and chief executive officer Manish Singh said the license agreement represents an expansion of the company’s intellectual property and technology portfolios that it is confident will ultimately lead to a broadening of its pipeline.

"Most importantly, the use of these technologies may lead to an extension of the benefits of TIL therapy to address several cancers that have significant unmet medical need," Singh said.

"As we continue advancing our clinical programs in melanoma, we look forward to working with our long-time collaborators at Moffitt to develop and commercialize these new technologies in multiple tumor indications."