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23 March 2018Americas

Novartis partners with Harvard on biomaterial systems

Novartis and Harvard University have teamed up to develop Harvard’s proprietary biomaterial systems to deliver cancer immunotherapies.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced the collaboration on Tuesday, March 20.

The partnership will “combine Harvard’s expertise in tumour biology and materials science with Novartis’ diverse immuno-oncology pipeline”, the release said.

Novartis secured a licensing agreement with Harvard’s office of technology development, allowing it to use the biomaterial systems technology.

The pharmaceutical company will also work with with the university’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, where the biomaterial systems technique to treat cancer was created, to explore the development of biomaterial systems for Novartis’ portfolio of immuno-oncology therapies.

According to Harvard’s news outlet The Harvard Gazette, the immuno-material approach to cancer treatment works by activating immune cells inside a patient’s own body to attack the cancer cells, rather than developing immune cells separately and then transferring them into patients.

Harvard’s biomaterial systems aim to overcome hurdles that hamper traditional cancer vaccines, such as their limited length of action and inability to target specific cancer cells, according to the statement. Novartis is currently developing combination immunotherapies in clinical trials.

Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, said the pharmaceutical company is looking forward to developing the technology owned by the Wyss Institute to “develop novel platforms for delivering immunotherapies to combat cancer”.

Speaking to LSIPR, a spokesperson for Novartis confirmed that the licensing agreement gives Novartis worldwide rights to apply up to ten targets to Harvard’s biomaterials platform.

The spokesperson said: “We believe this arrangement gives us a broad opportunity to develop strategies to stimulate the immune system and drive anti-cancer immunity. This collaboration is among multiple programmes in our portfolio that address immune system priming—an important initial step in the immune response to cancer.”

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Big Pharma
27 March 2018   GSK has revealed that it will buy Novartis out of their joint consumer healthcare business.

More on this story

Big Pharma
27 March 2018   GSK has revealed that it will buy Novartis out of their joint consumer healthcare business.