Novartis will disband its Cell and Gene Therapies Unit, but will continue to work on chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, multiple news outlets reported Wednesday.
Endpoints said it obtained a copy of a memo from division head Dr. Usman “Oz” Azam to the approximately 400 employees of the gene therapies group. It said, in part:
The risk of embarking on a new adventure in uncharted territory is that things don’t always work out as envisioned. Today, I have the unfortunate task of announcing that we are dissolving the Cell and Gene Therapies Unit.
All but 120 of those workers will remain with Novartis, according to Endpoints.
Of note, Novartis will continue its T-cell research at the University of Pennsylvania. The Swiss drug company in 2012 committed at least $20 million to the Novartis-Penn Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics on the school’s Philadelphia campus. The center opened this year.
“We continue to work with Penn under the terms of our agreement,” Novartis said in a statement, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News reported. Novartis reiterated its commitment to CAR-T therapies, particularly a compound called CTL019, intended to treat pediatric relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The closure of the Cell and Gene Therapies Unit should not come as a shock, one analyst said. “Re-organizing and re-structuring divisions sounds pretty typical and regular for big pharma’s broader bureaucracy,” wrote RBC Capital Markets biotech analyst Michael Yee, according to Xconomy.
The Novartis news seems to present a market opportunity for smaller biotech companies, or at least one, Israel-based Pluristem Therapeutics, thinks so.
“Big Pharma has found that focusing on licensing deals with smaller, focused biotechnology companies is the better route as these biotechs have focused their businesses, making them nimble and able to deal effectively with every aspect of the discovery and development of new therapies, including the complex manufacturing needed to produce highly sensitive biologics,” Karine Kleinhaus, North America vice president of Pluristem, said in an emailed statement.
“With Big Pharma cutting down on R&D teams, smaller mid- and late-stage firms like Pluristem, can step in with completed early R&D and commercial-grade manufacturing, as well as late-stage clinical trials that are under way,” Kleinhaus added.
Photo: Flickr user sinisterbluebox
