[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 5, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69066-69067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-24030]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive Patent License: Development of 
Anti-CD70 Chimeric Antigen Receptors for the Treatment of CD70 
Expressing Cancers

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 
Department of Health and Human Services, is contemplating the grant of 
an Exclusive Patent License to Kite Pharma, Inc. (``Kite'') located in 
Santa Monica, CA to practice the inventions embodied in the patent 
applications listed in the Supplementary Information section of this 
notice.

DATES: Only written comments and/or applications for a license which 
are received by the NCI Technology Transfer Center on or before October 
20, 2016 will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the patent applications, inquiries, 
and comments relating to the contemplated Exclusive Patent License 
should be directed to: Andrew Burke, Ph.D., Licensing and Patenting 
Manager, NCI Technology Transfer Center, 9609 Medical Center Drive, RM 
1E530 MSC 9702, Bethesda, MD 20892-9702 (for business mail), Rockville, 
MD 20850-9702 Telephone: (240) 276-5530; Facsimile: (240) 276-5504; 
Email: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: United States Provisional Patent Application 
No. 62/088,882, filed December 8, 2014, entitled ``Anti-CD70 Chimeric 
Antigen Receptors'' [HHS Reference No. E-021-2015/0-US-01]; and PCT 
Application No. PCT/US2015/025047 filed April 9, 2015 entitled ``Anti-
CD70 Chimeric Antigen Receptors'' [HHS Reference No. E-021-2015/0-PCT-
02] (and U.S. and foreign patent applications claiming priority to the 
aforementioned applications).
    The patent rights in these inventions have been assigned to the 
government of the United States of America.
    The prospective Exclusive Patent License territory may be worldwide 
and the field of use may be limited to the development, manufacture and 
commercialization of retrovirally-engineered anti-CD70 chimeric antigen 
receptor (CAR)-based autologous peripheral blood T cell therapy 
products, as set forth in the Licensed Patent Rights, for the treatment 
of CD70 expressing cancers in humans.
    The present invention describes certain CARs targeting CD70. CARs 
are hybrid proteins comprised of extracellular antigen binding domains 
and intracellular signaling domains designed to activate the cytotoxic 
functions of CAR-transduced T cells upon antigen stimulation.
    CD70 is a co-stimulatory molecule that provides proliferative and 
survival cues to competent cells upon binding to its cognate receptor, 
CD27. Its expression is primarily restricted to activated lymphoid 
cells; however, recent research has demonstrated that several cancers, 
including renal cell carcinoma, glioblastoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 
and chronic myelogenous leukemia also express CD70 under certain 
circumstances. Due to its limited expression in normal tissues, CARs 
targeting CD70 may be useful in adoptive cell therapy protocols for the 
treatment of select cancers.
    This notice is made in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 
part 404. The prospective Exclusive Patent License will be royalty 
bearing and may be granted unless within fifteen (15) days from the 
date of this published notice, the National Cancer Institute receives 
written evidence and argument that establishes that the grant of the 
license would not be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 
and 37 CFR part 404.
    Complete applications for a license in the prospective field of use 
that are timely filed in response to this notice will be treated as 
objections to the grant of the contemplated Exclusive Patent License. 
Comments and objections submitted to this notice will not be made 
available for public inspection and, to the extent permitted by law, 
will not be released under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 
552.


[[Page 69067]]


    Dated: September 29, 2016.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Associate Director, Technology Transfer Center. National Cancer 
Institute.
[FR Doc. 2016-24030 Filed 10-4-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4140-01-P