诺华收购CoStim公司发展癌症免疫疗法

诺华收购CoStim公司发展癌症免疫疗法
[size=1.1em]作者：[size=1.1em]yangtao[size=1.1em]来源：[size=1.1em]生物谷2014-2-17 关键词： 诺华 CoStim 免疫疗法 CAR-T

                               
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2014年2月17日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --为了拓展公司的癌症免疫疗法，制药巨头诺华公司最近宣布收购美国的CoStim医药公司以获得相关技术进一步发展其PD-1靶向疗法。公司今天刚刚宣布了这一消息，不过和往常一样并未透露此次收购的具体金额，而是强调这次收购完成后将对公司的PD-1研究有重要意义。

最近几个月，施贵宝、默沙东和罗氏等公司纷纷披露其各自的癌症免疫疗法数据，为这一领域更添了一把火。而诺华公司则将其注意力放在了公司自己开发的细胞表达嵌合抗原受体（chimeric antigen receptor  CAR-T）技术。诺华公司的药物研发中心负责人Mark Fishman表示，未来的癌症疗法将更多地借助额外融合的抗原和药物来达到治疗效果。而免疫疗法正在成为人类对抗癌症的又一个有力武器。（生物谷Bioon.com）

详细英文报道：

Looking to beef up its cancer immunotherapy portfolio, pharma giant Novartis is gobbling up a startup biotech in the U.S. that could help provide an entry into the frenzied race for PD-1 targeting therapies. Novartis announced this morning that it had struck a deal to buy CoStim Pharmaceuticals, a no-profile biotech based in Cambridge, MA and listed as part of Atlas Venture's group of companies.

In classic Novartis fashion the announcement doesn't mention deal terms, or even very much about the biotech it's buying, other than to cite its potential in going after PD-1--now perhaps the hottest target in cancer.

In recent months Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Roche have all produced fascinating data demonstrating the potential in taking the brakes off the human immune system and coordinating a powerful attack on a variety of cancers. Novartis, meanwhile, has been putting its considerable weight behind chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) technology and a new therapy advanced by Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania.

The big idea here is that pushing the immune system to attack cancer can be combined with a variety of targeted drugs to offer a combination punch against the disease. Merck, anxious to regain its rep as a leader in drug development, recently announced a string of tie-ups with industry partners. And Novartis, a hungry giant with a big appetite for new oncology therapeutics, is clearly planning to compete in the field. It will now explore combining CoStim's technology with its CAR-T approach.

"Therapy for many types of cancers are expected to increasingly rely upon rational combinations of agents," said Mark Fishman, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, in a statement. "Immunotherapy agents provide additional arrows in our quiver for such combinations. They complement our extensive portfolio of drugs that hit genetically-defined cancer-causing pathways, and also may be relevant to expansion of CAR therapies."

(责任编辑：lishuheng)