Juno Therapeutics Inc. has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO). No terms were given in the filing, but it is valued up to $150 million. The company will list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol JUNO. The underwriters for the offering are Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Leerink Partners and Goldman Sachs.
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Juno is a biopharmaceutical company focused on re-engaging the body’s immune system to treat cancer. The company was originally founded on the vision that the use of human cells as therapeutic entities will drive one of the next important phases in medicine. It is developing cell-based cancer immunotherapies based on a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and high-affinity T-cell receptor (TCR) technologies to genetically engineer T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells.
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In its research, Juno leverages CAR and TCR technologies to activate a patient’s own T cells so that they attack cancer cells. Through genetic engineering, a gene for a particular CAR or TCR construct is inserted into the T cell that enables it to better recognize cancer cells. The CAR technology directs T cells to recognize cancer cells based on the expression of specific proteins located on the cell surface, whereas TCR technology provides the T cells with a specific T-cell receptor to recognize protein fragments derived from either the surface or inside the cell.
To provide treatment, Juno harvests blood cells from a cancer patient, separates the appropriate T cells, activates the cells, inserts the gene sequence for the CAR or TCR construct into the cells’ DNA and grows these modified T cells to the desired dose level. The modified T cells can then be infused into the patient or frozen and stored for later infusion.
The most advanced product candidates that leverage CAR technology in the company’s pipeline are:
- JCAR015 has demonstrated in an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial a 91% complete remission rate in 22 evaluable adult patients. Phase 2 is planned to be initiated in mid-2015 exploring JCAR015 in adult r/r ALL that could support accelerated U.S. regulatory approval.
- JCAR017 has demonstrated in the Phase 1 portion of an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial an 83% complete remission rate in six evaluable patients with pediatric r/r ALL. The company plans to initiate a multi-center Phase 1 trial exploring JCAR017 in 2015, with the potential to advance to a registration trial in 2016 that may support accelerated U.S. regulatory approval.
- JCAR014 is in a Phase 1/2 trial in patients with B-cell malignancies, with the vast majority of patients treated to date having either r/r NHL or r/r ALL. Juno expects to report data from the Phase 1 portion of this trial before the end of 2014.
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