Mustang Bio and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center enters into an agreement

Mustang Bio which is subsidiary of Fortress Biotech has entered into an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center ("Fred Hutch") for the use of a CAR T therapy related to autologous T cells engineered to express a CD20-specific chimeric antigen receptor ("CD20 Technology").

Fortress Biotech is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to acquiring, developing and commercializing novel pharmaceutical and biotechnology products and Mustang which is its subsidiary is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy products designed to leverage the patient’s own immune system to eliminate cancer cells.

As part of the transaction, Mustang entered into an investigator-initiated clinical trial agreement to provide partial funding for a Phase 1/2 clinical trial at Fred Hutch evaluating the safety and efficacy of the CD20 Technology in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

Led by principal investigator Mazyar Shadman, M.D., Assistant Member of Fred Hutch’s Clinical Research Division, the trial is expected to initiate in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Manuel Litchman, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mustang, said, "We are thrilled to announce this partnership opportunity that will enable us to expand our CAR T pipeline into CD20-directed immunotherapies targeting B-cell malignancies. We look forward to working with the team at Fred Hutch to rapidly advance the promising CD20 Technology to patients in need. With the execution of this agreement, Mustang is now evaluating six novel CAR Ts in clinical and preclinical trials, and we remain focused on expanding our pipeline of compelling CAR T therapies."